Acer has gained the number one position in Western Europe for
PCs shipped, usurping Hewlett-Packard and getting ahead of
Dell.
Gartner says the Western Europe PC market grew 24.3% in the
third quarter, with mini-notebooks driving overall PC growth.
PC shipments in Western Europe totalled 17.2 million units in
the third quarter of 2008, an increase of 24.3% on the same period
last year.
The PC market in Western Europe continued to show double-digit
growth throughout 2008 with nearly all countries across the region
posting strong increases as mini-notebooks boosted overall
growth.
"The market position of vendors was largely determined by those
that shipped mini-notebooks and those that did not," said Ranjit
Atwal, an analyst at Gartner.
"As a result, Acer moved to the top position in Western Europe,
ahead of Hewlett-Packard for the first time ever."
Despite the general economic turmoil, demand in the consumer PC
market was strong in the third quarter of 2008. However, the
professional market felt the impact as the desk-based market
declined 3% and the overall professional market increased just
5%.
Gartner predicts that the PC market will weaken going into the
fourth quarter and 2009, even with the increase in shipments of
mini-notebooks.
"It is impossible for the PC market to avoid the negative impact
that the macro-economic factors are having on both business and
consumer markets," said Atwal. "We expect organisations to keep
their PCs longer and consumers to delay buying additional PCs for
the household. This in turn will force a deeper price war and
further consolidation in the marketplace."