Computer sales in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan totalled 8.09 million in the March quarter, up 16 percent on the year on the back of stronger consumer confidence, an industry report said yesterday.
On a three-month basis, sales were up 2 percent from the December quarter, research house Gartner Inc said in a report.
The first quarter "is typically a seasonally weaker quarter due to the Lunar New Year holidays celebrated in many Asian countries, where a decline in sequential growth rate is expected," Gartner's regional principal analyst for hardware and systems said.
"However, market confidence was stronger as compared to the same quarter last year while India, South Korea and the Philippines exhibited strong quarterly growth rates derived primarily from strong purchases from the professional sector," the report said.
During the March quarter, India overtook Australia as the third- largest computer market behind China and second-placed South Korea, the report said.
Mobile computers showed the biggest sales increment on a percentage basis as consumers bought 42 percent more in the March quarter compared with a year ago.
Sales of desktop computers, which make up 81 percent of the total computer market, grew an annual 11 percent in the three months to March.
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