On an annual basis, total shipments reached 269.0 million units in 2007 with growth of 14.3%. HP took the top spot with volume of over 50.5 million, with Dell in second with volume of 40.0 million. Acer moved into third with volume of 21.2 million excluding Gateway's business for the first three quarters and 24.6 million including Gateway, followed by Lenovo with 20.2 million.
"Fourth quarter results show a very healthy PC market," said Loren Loverde, director of IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. "There is a lot happening with vendors repositioning their channels and going after new markets while falling prices and portable adoption continue to drive volume. Despite fourth quarter strength, projections for the next couple years anticipate slower growth. Rising concerns about economic growth are likely to reduce expectations further, although we're still likely to see double digit growth through 2008 and probably 2009."
"The better-than-expected growth in the U.S. market can be largely attributed to channel realignment among key players, particularity through the retail expansion of Dell and Acer," said David Daoud, research manager, Personal Computing. "The results, however, do not reflect changes in the fundamentals of demand. Consumers continue to be attracted by mobile platforms and are benefiting from the proliferation of channels and heightened competition, which continue to bring prices down. Going forward, demand could soften further if bad news over the economy persists and consumer confidence worsens."
Regional Outlook
The United States market saw growth rise to nearly 9% as expansion of retail channels and competition among major vendors drove volume. Dell turned a corner, boosting shipments by over 15% and expanding its lead following gains by HP over the past year. Overall market growth is a good sign and shows the impact of competition and holiday demand. However, IDC remains conservative about growth prospects for 2008 based on economic concerns.
EMEA saw a strong year end supported by healthy Christmas sales and active vendor marketing across consumer and business channels. Notebooks continue to drive volume with growth of roughly 35%, though somewhat slower than a peak of more than 48% during the third quarter back-to-school season. Overall growth of nearly 15% was the fastest since mid 2006 after the recent third quarter.
Following a year and a half of declining volume, the Japan market recovered in the fourth quarter with a strong showing from the Commercial market. Growth jumped to roughly 10% from a decline of about 4% in the past two quarters. The improved growth is partly due to a weak market a year ago, but also improved demand and solid performances from HP and Dell. Several large projects also contributed to shipment volume after several quarters with no deals of this scale.
Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) continued to grow by more than 20% with steady growth in the major markets. Shipments in Australia and Indonesia accelerated in the fourth quarter while growth in several fast growing markets, including Malaysia and Vietnam, remained above 20% despite slowing from mid-year peaks. The outlook for APeJ remains strong, although recession in other countries would impact exports and rising oil prices will raise production costs. Political turmoil, including recent events in Pakistan, could also affect shipments although the impact has been limited so far.
