PC sales down 12% in Western Europe

PC sales for Western Europe dropped 12 per cent in the third quarter, with the spread of the economic slowdown into continental Europe being blamed.

Zooming out a little, the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region as a whole decline 9.5 per cent.

Back in August 2000 The Reg reported on Western Europe witnessing its first ever year-on-year sales decline for Q2, while EMEA was flatter than a flat pancake.

The new stats, a report from IDC, show that while Compaq remains in pole position, its market share slipped again, partly due to its upcoming acquisition by HP that investors seem to be increasingly opposed to (as are readers of the Reg, with 40 per cent of people who took part in our recent survey rating it as a negative move). The company's share for EMEA dropped to 14.5 per cent (from 15.5 per cent).

Meanwhile, following the US trend (where it is already the sales leader), Dell managed to grow its share to 10.4 per cent, citing the usual 'price cuts and direct sales' motivation. It was the only manufacturer in the top five to record an increase for the quarter.

PC sales in the UK dropped 15.5 per cent, which the report attributed to businesses delaying or cancelling computer-related projects. In comparison, figures from Gartner Dataquest (in August) showed sales for the UK dropping 7.3 per cent in the previous quarter.

Analysts from IDC didn't have much positive news to give, saying, "Worsening economic conditions will add to an already-slowing PC market and affect the prospects of a larger rebound".

Elsewhere, PC shipments in Eastern Europe had decent growth at 13.8 percent, which IDC says was "driven by strong double-digit growth in Russia," while the Middle East and Africa were affected by a serious decline in Turkey and Israel.

The top five vendors for EMEA, in order of market share, now sits like this:

1. Compaq 14.5%
   
2. Dell 10.4%
   
3. Fujitsu-Siemens 8.5%
   
4. HP 8.5%
   
5. IBM 6.6%
   

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