UK PC sales up 15%, but growth is weaker than in Western Europe
Gartner says the PC market in Western Europe grew by 19.6% in the second quarter of 2010, with shipments of 15.6 million units, but the UK market grew by only 15.1% to 2.9 million units.
This was bad news for Dell, which slipped from first to third place in the UK market for desktop and notebook PCs (including netbooks). Gartner said: “Dell was affected on the professional side and was unable to capture retail shelf space, as the PC channel squeezed overall volumes in reaction to a weaker market.”
The numbers must also disappoint Asus, which is the fourth largest PC supplier in Western Europe, but has lost out to Samsung in the UK.
Acer, HP and Dell dominated the UK PC business, taking almost 60% of the market between them. Acer increased its shipments by 36.4% to 648,000 units to achieve a market share of 22.4%. HP’s shipments grew by 37.8% to 594,000 and a market share of 20.5%. Dell’s shipments fell by 22.6% to 462,000 units and a market share of 15.9%.
Toshiba took fourth place (221,000 units, 7.6%) while Samsung came fifth (172,000 units, 5.9%).
Gartner does not provide numbers for companies outside the Top 5 -- such as Asus, Lenovo, Sony and Apple -- unless you pay for its reports. However, it said that in Western Europe, Apple, Sony, Samsung and Lenovo all grew by more than 30% in the second quarter.
As usual, the UK’s PC market was driven by consumer notebook and netbook purchases, with austerity hitting the professional replacement business. Gartner said:
In the second quarter, the mobile PC market grew 17%, with consumer PCs leading the way with more than 30% growth compared to low double-digit professional mobile growth. This trend was repeated for desk-based PCs. All-in-one consumer PC sales grew in double-digits while professional desk-based PCs saw only single digit growth, despite a very weak second quarter of 2009. This indicates the recovery of the professional market is being delayed.
Since a new PC running Microsoft Windows 7 costs less than £1 a day, British companies must either be slow to catch on or badly strapped for cash.