HP wins as EMEA PC market booms unexpectedly

Desk-based PC not dead yet, says Gartner

HP has emerged as one of the big winners from a Q1 EMEA PC market that unexpectedly hiked by seven per cent, according to Gartner.

Global PC shipments defied expectations to grow 1.9 per cent year on year in the three months to 31 March as Gartner research director Ranjit Atwal declared that the desk-based PC "is not dead yet".

The market watcher had previously expected the market to shrink by 1.2 per cent.

The main engine of that growth was EMEA, where the long-awaited flurry of Windows 7 projects in the professional market drove growth to 6.7 per cent.

Despite its "will-it, won't-it" PSG saga last year, HP was one of the quarter's largest gainers, both globally and in EMEA, leading Gartner to conclude the company's management problems are behind it.

Globally, HP's shipments rose 3.5 per cent to 15.3 million, propelling its market share from 16.9 to 17.2 per cent.

In EMEA, HP not only retained the top spot but increased its lead over its closet rivals, Acer and Dell.

Its market share rose from 19.1 per cent to 20.5 per cent year on year. Acer (13.5 per cent), Dell (8.8 per cent), Asus (8.3 per cent) and Lenovo (8.2 per cent) rounded out the top five in EMEA.

The HDD supply shortage had a limited impact on PC supply during the quarter, Gartner said, although there was a moderate impact on select sectors including low-end consumer notebooks and the white-box market.

"HP was able to secure HDD inventory, unlike in the fourth quarter of 2011 when it was faced with a shortage issue," Gartner said.

"HP's growth also indicates that internal management issues were resolved, and analysts said it appears HP was able to restore some of the business it lost as a result of those issues."