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PC shipments grow 4 percent as Vista gains in popularity

The nation's PC shipments grew 4 percent in the third quarter as consumers upgraded to Vista-enabled PCs, market researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said yesterday, adding that the momentum would carry into this quarter because of seasonal demand.

Traditionally strong PC year-end sales will be further boosted by strong orders from government agencies in a hurry to use up their budgets before the year's end, IDC said, predicting overall PC shipments would increase another 4 percent annually, or 25 percent quarterly, in the fourth quarter.

IDC did not, however, expect the annual information technology device fair IT Month to result in a significant boost to PC sales, said analyst Dickie Chang, based in Taipei.

Chang did not expect shortages of components such as battery packs to impact on PC shipments this quarter.

Last quarter, PC vendors including the top two brands Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) and Acer Inc shipped a total of 735,825 units, up 25 percent from the second quarter.

"PC sales regained momentum in the third quarter as consumers become better acquainted with Vista's functions," Chang said.

Consumers were hesitant when Microsoft Corp launched its new operating system in the first quarter and have waited to see how well the system performs before upgrading to Vista-enabled computers, Chang said.

A healthy stock market in the first half of the year also lifted PC sales, as investors were more willing to spend on electronic devices, he said.

In the laptop market, shipments grew faster than predicted at 13 percent year-on-year, or 41 percent at a quarterly rate, to 257,352 units in the third quarter.

The growth was fueled by demand for new products launched by top vendors, IDC said, citing Acer's Gemstone series.

Government agencies' purchases also helped boost laptop sales, IDC said.

The market researcher said there have been no significant changes to the ranking of top PC makers, with Asustek and Acer still the nation's top two brands.

Shipments of desktop computers, meanwhile, expanded 18 percent quarter-on-quarter to 478,473 units last quarter.
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