Personal computer consumption in Taiwan is expected to stagnate this quarter, mainly attributable to seasonal factors and the delayed impact of Microsoft Vista, said a report released on Monday by International Data Corp (IDC) Taiwan.
"The fewer working days during the Lunar New Year holiday, as well as delayed purchases from the government, will have an impact on PC purchases in the commercial sector," the report added.
PC sales stimulated by the recently released Windows Vista operating system (OS) will most likely take effect starting from the second quarter onwards, it said.
Time needed
"Development of Vista-related software applications will need some time," the researcher said, adding that consumers would not embrace Vista quickly, unless it can further demonstrate its operating stability.
Microsoft Taiwan Corp has been pushing the long-awaited Vista aggressively since its launch in late January. Spending handsome sums of marketing dollars, the company even held a Vista-debut concert with pop singers on stage in a bid to reach out to a younger audience.
Caution
But the "wait-and-see" consumer mindset on Vista caused sales in the local PC market to fall in the fourth quarter last year.
The IDC report said that a total of 186,576 portable computers were sold during the fourth quarter last year, an 18 percent decline compared to the previous three-month period and the same period a year ago.
The Vista upgrade scheme promoted by computer manufacturers and Microsoft failed to excite users, it said.
Overall, Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) and Acer Inc cemented their positions as the top-selling laptop brands, with Hewlett-Packard Co and Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) maintaining the No. 3 and No. 4 spots.
By comparison, desktop consumption for the fourth quarter fared better, with 447,610 units sold -- a decline of 6 percent sequentially and 9 percent year-on-year.
The fall could be attributed to the commercial sector, which reduced orders because of the unfavorable economic environment, as well as the government's delay in making hardware purchases, said IDC.
The top-four vendors in the desktop segment were Acer, Asustek, HP and Lenovo respectively, it said.
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