MARKET WATCH - Home users fuel PC demand

FRANCE SUMMARY: 1998

oost demand as growth in the home market sees a substantial increase, while the trend for incentives promises to encourage strong 1999 sales figures. France has shown a very steady performance throughout the year, achieved by continuing strong sales in the home and SME sectors, leading to a 22.2 per cent growth for 1998 compared with 1997.

Compaq clearly maintained its top position in the French PC market with a 39 per cent increase in sales for the year, representing a total of 654,937 units shipped. Dell was one of the big winners, almost doubling the number of units shipped - rising from 153,220 units in 1997 to 286,668 units in 1998. Fujitsu enjoyed similar success but on a smaller scale - with the number of units rising from 66,555 in 1997 to 142,708 in 1998.

As with many of the key European markets, Apple staged a stunning revival with market growth of 21.6 per cent - its market share, however, remained static at 3.3 per cent for the year as a whole. Packard Bell/NEC improved its market share by a single percentage point, although Dell, as in other European markets, showed the biggest rise.

FRANCE SUMMARY: Q4 1998

The French PC market in the fourth quarter of 1998 achieved a good growth rate of 23.9 per cent - compared with the same period last year. France's traditionally strong home PC demand was fuelled by attractive promotional offers in retail chains, leading to a significant rise in PC sales in this sector. As a result, the fourth quarter out-performed the third quarter.

This trend is likely to continue in 1999, when planned partnerships between ISP and retail chains are expected to further drive home PC sales.

In the quarter, Fujitsu attained market growth statistics of 90 per cent plus, which helped it surpass Apple in total market share.

IBM's market share dropped slightly in the quarter by 0.1 per cent from 9.8 per cent to 9.7 per cent.

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