Mobile PCs fly off SA shelves

The final quarter of 2007 saw continued uptake of mobile PC units in South Africa, driven by increased consumer spending over the holiday period. Innovative marketing activities and bundle offers saw business and consumer spending on PCs grow 4.9% in Q4 2007, compared to the same period in the previous year, according to data released by IDC EMEA. This positive year-end performance brought total South African PC shipments for 2007 to more than 1.7 million units, representing a 6.2% increase over 2006.

Notebook sales remained strong throughout Q4 2007, growing more than 20% in volume year-on-year, while desktop sales declined slightly over the same period. Targeted marketing activity, attractive product launches, and an increasingly stylish product portfolio, which continues to drive consumer and SMB demand, assisted the growth in notebook shipments. Retail and business channels showed the most progress over the year period, with the retail channel's PC sales growing 30% in volume year-on-year in Q4 2007.

"There has been a shift in notebook sales over the last year as vendors looked to increase their margins by selling slightly higher spec machines than previously. We do not expect to see the entry-level price notebook of last year doing quite as well this year. Preloaded Vista machines or Vista capable machines have forced vendors to increase the specs of their machines, leading to slightly higher priced notebooks becoming prevalent in the market," says Hannes Fourie, PC Analyst, IDC South Africa.

Slight increase in value

Notebooks will be the driving force behind the overall PC market's growth in the coming quarter with a strong focus from vendors on the back-to-school market via the retail channel.

Although desktop shipments declined in volume year-on-year in Q4 2007, there was a slight increase in value over the same period as businesses opted for higher spec machines and workstation-like quality desktops enjoyed a healthy uptake. Strong demand from the bigger corporate segments of the market motivated this trend.

The South Africa PC market of 2008 will benefit from continued growth in the portable space as businesses and consumers increasingly opt to replace desktops with notebooks. Load shedding will add to this adoption as consumers and business realize the benefits battery power can add to their PC experience.

The top three vendors (HP, Acer, and Dell) continued to dominate South Africa's PC market in Q4 2007, with their combined share of shipments topping 38% for that period. These vendors performed strongly across all their product lines thanks to superior market exposure and product variety catering to the needs of all end users.

For more information about IDC's research into the IT market in South Africa, contact Nicola Quinn at +27 11 517 3240 or by email at .

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