International Data Corp keeps close tabs on the South American personal computer market and its latest findings are as follows. In 1994, Mexico was booming while Brazil was spotty, in 1995 it was boom in Brazil, bust in Mexico while Argentina was disappointing. The Framingham, Massachusetts research house finds that Mexico, which three years ago accounted for 35% of the total Latin American market with 355,000 machines sold, plummeted to 14% of the market in 1995 with sales plunging 37%, while Brazil has soared to 40% of the market. The findings confirm earlier IDC predictions that Brazil would close out 1995 with shipments well over 900,000 units. Much the rest of the continent – or at least the major markets – also grew enough to marginalise the Mexican slump, and the the region still managed to grow 11%, with double digit growth in all other markets bar Argentina, which grew just 5%. Shipments of personal computers in Brazil grew by just under 40%. The researcher’s crystal ball suggests that for 1996, market growth will exceed 20% with Mexico beginning to show signs of recovery and Brazil moderating to 27% growth. The local manufacturers have increasingly been squeezed by the multinationals as Compaq Computer Corp, Acer Inc, IBM Corp, Hewlett-Packard Co, Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA and Dell Computer Corp all assemble in the region or have unveiled plans to begin assembling in numerous Latin America countries. Windows95 is crimped by few corporate users having big enough machines to run it, IDC says.
