PC vendors set for price war

Acer held a quarter of the western European PC market during 2008's third quarter and is fast closing in on top spot in the UK, according to analyst Gartner.

Provisional figures for Q3 shipments reveal Dell is the UK's top vendor after shipping 708,000 units to grab 20.6 per cent of the market. Acer increased its market share year on year by more than five points to 18.9 per cent and sits in second place.

The bullish Taiwanese vendor shipped 651,000 units, a 60.9 per cent rise on Q3 2007.

HP fell from top spot a year ago to third as its market share fell more than five points to 18.7 per cent. Shipments were also down 8.2 per cent and stood at 644,000. Toshiba was in fourth spot with 289,000 units shipped and a market share of 8.4 per cent. Fujitsu Siemens Computers shipped 151,000 units to take fifth spot and a market share of 4.4 per cent.

Shipments from all other vendors were 995,000 and their total market share was 24.9 per cent. In total, UK PC shipments rose 17.5 per cent on 2007's third quarter and stood at 3.44 million.

Despite the healthy appearance of the numbers, Gartner principal analyst Ranjit Atwal was quick to temper any undue optimism. "The roll-out of mini-notebooks has masked the weakness in the UK PC market," he said. "The demand in the professional market slowed down and vendors' margins continued to shrink as average selling prices fell by double digits again."

Acer's strong performance in this country was reflected across Western Europe as shipments rose 64.3 per cent on last year to 4.3 million. Market share spiked more than six points to 25 per cent, leaving HP more than four points behind with a 20.7 per cent share.

HP shipments were up 12.1 per cent to 3.55 million, while Dell's rose 10.7 per cent to two million, giving it an 11.6 per cent market share. The quarter's biggest winner was ASUS, which took fourth spot after a 195.5 per cent spike in shipments. With 1.1 units shipped, the mini-notebook specialist more than doubled its market share to 6.4 per cent.

Toshiba's shipments were up 23 per cent year to 928,000, leaving it in fifth spot with 5.4 per cent of the market. All other manufacturers shipped 5.3 million units and accounted for 30.9 per cent of the market. Total shipments stood at 17.17 million, an increase of 24.3 per cent on last year.

Gartner indicated that the popularity of mini-notebooks will not be enough to prevent the PC market from suffering in the current economic climate over the coming year. "It is impossible for the PC market to avoid the negative impact that the macro-economic factors are having on both business and consumer markets," said Atwal. "We expect organisations to keep their PCs longer and consumers to delay buying additional PCs for the household. This in turn will force a deeper price war and further consolidation in the marketplace."