PC sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) were up 13.5 per cent in Q2 2007, according to market watcher IDC. A total of 17.5m desktop and notebook computers were sold in the region, with a 31 per cent increase in notebook sales compared to the same period last year.

IDC said competition among the leading vendors of notebooks, particularly from HP and Acer was very active in the retail and SME markets.

Desktop shipments grew by just 2.4 per cent, figures the analyst firm said reflected the continuing shift to portable devices. Desktop growth remained mostly driven by the continued expansion of the Central and Eastern European, and Middle East and Africa (CEMA) markets, where desktop sales grew by 12 per cent and nine per cent respectively.

"While portable adoption continues to drive growth across the region, with an obvious shift also seen in CEMA markets, the gradual replacement of a large consumer notebook installed base in Western Europe clearly contributes to the continued momentum observed," said Karine Paoli, research director for IDC's EMEA Personal Computing group.

"Those renewals will continue to fuel demand during the back-to-school and Christmas seasons with strong traction expected on new products and designs, while the competitive environment, not expected to soften, will maintain price pressure on entry-level systems."

HP, the top vendor in the region, enjoyed significant growth in the quarter with a 29 per cent overall increase in shipments and 60 per cent increase in notebooks compared to the same period in 2006. Like HP, third placed Acer posted a strong quarter with a 36 per cent increase in overall shipments.

By contrast, IDC said second placed Dell suffered from slow corporate demand and fierce competition from all vendors in the notebook market.

The analyst firm said Fujitsu Siemens, which ranked fourth in the region, maintained a healthy performance in the notebook market in line with market growth but suffered a decline in desktop shipments. Fifth place Toshiba recorded solid growth according to IDC while Lenovo, in sixth, and Asus, seventh, both posted strong quarters.

© 2007 ENN