IDC issues notebook warning

Resellers will have to wait until second half of 2009 for commercial laptop market to come back, analyst cautions

Morvay: Commercial desktops and notebooks have been equally impacted by slowdown

It will be at least six to nine months before the UK business notebook segment returns to growth after suffering a dire first quarter, IDC has warned.

According to the research firm’s first quarter PC tracker, the previously buoyant segment collapsed in the first three months of the year, as unit shipments of portable PCs to commercial organisations plunged 21.1 per cent on the previous year. That almost matches the 22.4 per cent unit decline seen in the commercial desktop space.

Total UK PC shipments fell 8.4 per cent to 2.87 million units as the market was buoyed by strong consumer netbook sales.

Eszter Morvay, research manager at IDC, said UK firms have typically slashed IT budgets by 30 per cent, forcing notebook renewal delays.

“The slowdown affected the commercial market across the board, with desktops and portables equally impacted,” she said.

“We believe that people buying a second or third [portable] device will be prepared to wait for six to nine months, so we will see demand coming back in the back-to-school and Christmas market.”

HP maintained its stranglehold on the overall market but saw shipments fall 7.9 per cent, while number-two outfit Dell declined 22.2 per cent. Samsung came out of the quarter shining after posting 230 per cent unit growth, while Fujtisu Siemens saw shipments nose-dive 50.4 per cent, making it the big loser.

Loay Lawrence, commercial director at HP partner Vohkus, agreed with IDC’s assessment but stressed that the reseller’s value business is still growing.

“Workstations and thin clients are on the increase for us,” he said. “We are seeing more effort and investment going into value products because of cost-cutting effects they have, such as saving money and quicker return-on-investment.”