Personal-computer sales in Asia, excluding Japan, rose a less-than-expected 13 percent to 7.8 million units in the fourth quarter, because of falling demand in South Korea and slower-than-expected sales growth in China and India, market researcher IDC said.
Shipments missed IDC's forecast for 7.9 million units. Sales last year rose 14 percent to 28.4 million units, compared with IDC's estimate for 28.5 million units.
"Although India and China continued to record strong interest in mobile computing, notebook sales in these countries still fell slightly below IDC's expectations," IDC said in a faxed statement. "Korea's PC market continued to struggle amid low consumer and business confidence."
Legend Group Ltd maintained its position as Asia's largest computer maker, increasing its market share to 13.7 percent in the fourth quarter from 13 percent a year earlier, IDC said.
The Chinese computer manufacturer sold 1.1 million units, an increase of 19 percent from the fourth quarter of 2002, according to IDC.
China, the world's second-largest PC market after the US, will account for almost half of an estimated 33 million computers sold in Asia, outside Japan, this year, said an IDC analyst.
RSS