PC shipments falling, IDC says

Taiwan's PC shipments dropped 12 percent quarter-on-quarter last quarter as local corporations and consumers were cautious about spending primarily because of political uncertainty, market researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said yesterday.

As political concerns may linger ahead of the presidential elections on Saturday, IDC said it was quite conservative about a rebound in shipments during this year's first quarter as government agencies and schools are expected to be even more cautious about PC purchases. In addition, the first quarter is often a slack season for the PC industry, IDC said.

"We forecast Q108 would be 1 percent less than Q107," said Dick Chang (張祐菖), a PC analyst with IDC's Taipei branch.

PC shipments dropped to 645,561 units in the final quarter of last year, down 12 percent from the third quarter of last year, the IDC's latest report showed.

That also meant a 2-percent increase from 634,000 units shipped in the fourth quarter of 2006, the researcher said.

"Influenced by political uncertainty, corporations and general consumers hold a conservative attitude," IDC said in the report.

"Besides, relatively weak stock markets in the fourth quarter also indirectly impact consumer confidence and income for spending," the report said.

Notebook computer shipments dropped at a faster pace of 17 percent quarter-on-quarter to 214,223 units in the fourth quarter as low-cost PCs slightly eroded the sales of regular laptop market, IDC said. But, on an annual basis, the fourth quarter shipments represented an approximate 15 percent growth as falling prices provided a catalyst for desktop computer users to buy laptops, the researcher said.

"The sale of low-cost PCs like `Eee PC' has attracted a tech craze and also indirectly affected the decisions of consumers, who plan to buy thin and light notebooks," Chang said in the report.

Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) said it had sold about 380,000 units of sub-US$200 Eee PCs less than three months after the launch last October.

The growth momentum of low-cost PCs could be strong in the foreseeable future if manufacturers find a balance between the performance and the price of their products, Chang said.

Local firms Asustek and Acer Inc remained the two biggest notebook computer vendors in the fourth quarter by shipments, followed by Hewlett Packard Co and China's Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想).

Desktop computer shipments slid at a slower pace of 10 percent quarter-on-quarter to 431,338 units during the final quarter of last year, supported by PC purchases from some government agencies and corporations in order to digest annual budgets at the end of the year.