EMEA PC market up 18.9% in Q4 2005

In line with expectations, the EMEA PC market displayed solid growth in the final quarter of the year, expanding by 18.9% year on year in Q4 2005. Boosted by strong consumer sales and the continued momentum in the notebook space, shipments rose to 22.3 mln units across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Continued growth in the CEMA region also contributed to a solid year and boosted overall shipments in EMEA to close to 70 mln units for 2005. Notebooks continued to drive overall growth across the region with shipments rising by close to 40% compared with the same quarter in 2004. Consumers continued to respond very positively to very attractive price points but portable demand in the business space remained very strong too. Rather high inventory levels placed in the channel since November also contributed to boost sales in levels in Q4 2005.

The desktop market maintained positive trends albeit moderate at 9%. Demand for digital entertainment systems coupled with attractive bundles continued to stimulate consumer desktop purchases and renewals. Commercial desktop sales remained soft as in the 3rd quarter, directly impacted by slowing business refresh activity and desktop replacement trends in the SMB space.All regions performed in line with forecasts. Western Europe posted a solid 15% growth in Q4 2005 leading to 16% for the full 2005, while ongoing infrastructure investment and strong demand for notebooks continued to boost sales to in CEE and MEA to over 25% and 38%, respectively.

EMEA PC market in Q4 2005
	Shipments, 000		Share, %		Growth
Vendor	Q4 2004	Q4 2005	Q4 2004	Q4 2005	YTY
HP	2,934	3,518	15.7%	15.8%	19.9%
Dell	1,858	2,485	9.9%	11.2%	33.7%
Acer	1,518	2,191	8.1%	9.8%	44.3%
Fujitsu Siemens	1,377	1,771	7.4%	8.0%	28.6%
NEC	746	1,051	4.0%	4.7%	40.9%
Others	10,297	11,256	55.0%	50.5%	9.3%
Total EMEA	18,731	22,272	100.0%	100.0%	18.9%
Source: IDC