MARKET WATCH - Euro aids corporate sales

Strong third and fourth-quarter results resusitate corporate and consumer sectors after economic conditions and reluctance to buy next-generation PCs hamper first-half sales.

GERMANY SUMMARY: 1998

uarter results resusitate corporate and consumer sectors after economic conditions and reluctance to buy next-generation PCs hamper first-half sales. The German PC market underwent considerable improvement during the course of 1998. The first half of the year was characterised by very sluggish demand.

Consumers tended to prefer PC upgrades to new products and businesses held back investments due to economic conditions and the uncertainty generated by the general elections.

However, PC sales in both sectors took off in the second half of the year. Due to the favourable conditions during the third and fourth quarters, the German market achieved an overall 1998 growth rate of 16.2 per cent compared with 1997.

Fujitsu achieved the greatest market growth, with 62.9 per cent, moving above Compaq in market share with 10.7 per cent of the total market. Siemens remained in pole position, increasing its market share by 1.3 per cent to 13.2 per cent in 1998. IBM dropped 0.3 per cent over the same period, falling from 5.5 per cent in 1997 to 5.2 per cent in 1998.

GERMANY SUMMARY: Q4 1998

Germany, whose PC market had already shown a strong improvement in the third quarter of 1998, was able to increase sales even further, reaching a growth rate of 21.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 1998 compared with the same period last year. Sales were mainly driven by the business sector, where euro implementation led to significant IT investment. The home PC market also saw an upturn, with consumers responding to falling prices and cheap PC sales through food chains.

After achieving phenomenal growth in the last quarter of 1997, Dell only managed a growth rate of 0.2 per cent - slipping from fifth place to equal sixth in terms of vendor market share.

Fujitsu and Siemens both battled it out for the top spot with Siemens turning a 0.3 per cent deficit in the fourth quarter of 1997 to a 0.2 per cent advantage in the fourth quarter of 1998.