Worldwide shipments of personal computers grew by just 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter compared with a year ago, the worst growth rate since 2002, market research firm Gartner reported on Wednesday.
Citing preliminary figures, Gartner said global PC shipments totaled 78.1 million units in the fourth quarter of last year.
RECESSION WOES
“The United States experienced steeper than expected shipment declines due to the recession,” said Mika Kitagawa, principal analyst for Gartner’s Client Computing Markets group.
“The Europe, Middle East and Africa region was also affected by the economic slowdown across key countries,” she said. “Asia-Pacific recorded the worst shipment growth since Gartner started its PC statistics research.
“Latin America met expectations,” she said, “but its growth was much lower than in the past.”
BETTER THAN AVERAGE
Gartner said US computer giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) managed to grow above the worldwide average in the fourth quarter with shipments of 14.9 million units, earning a market share of 19.1 percent, up from 18.7 percent a year ago.
“However [HP’s] year-on-year growth was its lowest since its merger with Compaq in 2003,” Gartner said.
Dell Inc held on to its number two spot with shipments of 10.3 million units, giving it a 13.2 percent market share, down from 14.2 percent a year ago.
Taiwan’s Acer (宏碁) was third with shipments of 9.6 million units, with a market share of 12.3 percent compared with 9.5 percent a year ago.
China’s Lenovo was next with shipments of 5.5 million units followed by Toshiba with 3.6 million units.
Gartner said Acer recorded exceptional growth in the fourth quarter with worldwide PC shipments growing by 31.1 percent.
Acer’s sales were driven by low priced PCs such as mini-notebooks, he said.
US SHIPMENTS
PC shipments in the US declined by 10 percent in the fourth quarter, the steepest drop since the last US recession in 2001, Gartner said.
Worldwide PC shipments totaled 302.2 million units last year, up 10.9 percent from 2007, Gartner said.
Hewlett-Packard shipped a total of 55.68 million units, followed by Dell with 43.1 million, Acer with 33.5 million, Lenovo with 21.8 million and Toshiba 13.5 million.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
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SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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