Canadian PC market continued to exhibit weakness in the second quarter as shipments fell short of a positive turnaround. According to preliminary figures released by IDC’s Canadian Quarterly PC Tracker, PC shipments declined 1.5 per cent to 678,000 units from the same period a year ago. Shipments of
commercial-branded PCs were down 5.3 per cent, whereas consumer-branded PCs registered 6.0 per cent growth from the previous year.
“”While vendors noticed a drop in retail traffic as a result of the SARSscare, consumer demand remained robust for the quarter driven by the declining ASP and mobile computing trends occurring in the marketplace,”” said Eddie Chan, research analyst for IDC’s Canadian Mobile & Personal Computing programs. Despite the good news on the consumer front, lacklustre sales of commercial-branded desktops weighed on the overall PC market’s recovery. “”The rise in the Canadian dollar, its impact on export demand, and the slow pace of recovery in the U.S. contributed to the cautious sentiment prevalent in the enterprise market. Businesses either decided to extend the life of their desktops or continued to evaluate the merits of migrating to mobiles,”” added Chan.
The overall Canadian desktop market fell 5.0 per cent in the second quarter with commercial-branded shipments down 10.4 per cent. In the notebook market, shipments were up eight per cent as both consumer and commercial segments experienced strong demand. Shipments of x86 servers also posted solid growth of 23.6 per cent year over year.
Dell continued to lead the Canadian PC market as the only vendor to register positive year-over-year growth for the quarter. HP recorded solid year-on-year growth in notebooks outperforming the market by ten points.
IBM had an exceptional quarter in x86 servers, outperforming the market by 18 points to capture top honours with 33.9 per cent share.Apple regained the fourth position in the quarter on strong sales of its PowerBooks. Toshiba moderated its shipment volumes for the quarter reducing channel inventories to make room for new models in preparation for the back-to-school shopping season.
