Demand soars in Asia for notebook PCs

Better deals and a wider selection helped spur sales of notebook computers to record levels in Asia during the first half of this year, market analyst Gartner Inc. said on Monday.

Shipments of notebook PCs in Asia totalled 3.9 million units during the first half of the year, up 40.4 percent over the same period last year, Gartner said. Notebook computers accounted for 21 percent of PC shipments in Asia during the period, compared to 18 percent last year, it said. The report doesn’t include the Japanese market.

Asian consumers were the driving force behind higher notebook sales during the period, attracted by lower prices and a wider selection of models available to choose from, Gartner said. School students, attracted by back-to-school sales, made up a significant portion of these sales, it said.

“The price of notebooks is dropping very fast and the price gap with desktops has been further narrowed,” said Simon Ye, a principal analyst at Gartner, in Shanghai. This shrinking difference in price makes notebooks more attractive to consumers who might have once opted for a desktop, he said.

Soaring Asian demand for notebook PCs comes as demand for computers continued to rise overall in the region. Gartner said total PC shipments in Asia reached 18.8 million units, up 18 percent over the first half of 2004.

Demand for PCs remained strong in China, where overall shipments rose by 16.9 percent compared to the same period last year, Gartner said, adding that the country is expected to continue to see double-digit growth in PC shipments through at least 2008.

As in other parts of Asia, demand for notebook PCs surged in China. Shipments of notebook computers rose 43.9 percent in China and accounted for 19.5 percent of all computers shipped in the country. By comparison, notebooks accounted for 15.8 percent of shipments during the same period last year.

Consumer demand was a major reason for increased sales, Ye said, noting that the first half is a seasonally strong period of consumer demand due to several major holidays and back-to-school shopping.

Ye demand for notebook computers will continue to grow quickly in China during the next few quarters. “This trend will continue in the future,” he said.

Lenovo Group Ltd. took the top spot among PC vendors in Asia, with a 17.3 percent share of the market, up from 16.8 percent last year, Gartner said. Both figures include PCs sold by IBM Corp.’s former PC division, now part of Lenovo. Hewlett-Packard Co. took second place with a market share of 10.8 percent, followed by Dell Inc. with a market share of 7.4 percent.

Taiwan’s Acer Inc., which ranked fourth among the largest PC vendors in Asia, posted the biggest market-share gain for the period. The company’s market share increased by 50 percent to 5.3 percent, compared to 4.2 percent one year earlier, Gartner said.