Personal computer shipments in the Asia-Pacific region surged to a record high in the third quarter of this year, with ChinaÆs Legend Group overtaking the top US companies to grab the number one vendor spot, according to figures compiled by International Data Corp.
The region, excluding Japan, recorded PC shipments of more than 3.6 million units, up 41% year-on-year and 5% up on the second quarter of this year. The market’s growth rate in the third quarter 1999 was the highest figure generated in almost four years, said Dane Anderson, vice-president for computing systems for IDC Asia-Pacific. Asia’s economic recovery remains the primary factor behind the markets’ momentum as PC demand picked up in all countries. Perennial market drivers such as price erosion, internet proliferation, low PC penetration rates and the consumer market also contributed to strong sales.
China remained the region’s largest market, accounting for 37% of total PC shipments in Asia-Pacific. Demand in the next four largest markets, South Korea, Australia, India and Taiwan, was also robust with South Korea seeing a 70% growth in shipments thanks to a government-sponsored plan to bring affordable multimedia PCs to the masses.
Legend became the top vendor in the region for the first time with an 8.5% market share compared to 7.8% for IBM in second spot followed by Compaq with 7.4%, Hewlett-Packard with 5.4% and KoreaÆs Samsung Electronics with 4.9%.
