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China's PC Vendors Threaten International Players
The strong performance of domestic personal computer sellers sent warning signals to international competitors in the second quarter of the year, said IDC (International Data Corp) in its quarterly report released this week.
The research house said Chinese firms will continue to do better and fight off international producers.
China's top PC vendor Legend took centre-stage as the region's top vendor by capturing 9 per cent of the market with 108 per cent growth from the same period of last year.
Legend made 4.34 million PCs between April and June, 20 per cent higher than the previous quarter.
Besides Legend, other rising local stars recording year on year growth in excess of 100 per cent include Founder, Great Wall, Start and Hisense.
"We continue to see unflagging PC demand and the ability of local vendors to sell to a wider range of clients,'' said Davina Yeo, senior analyst at IDC Asia/Pacific."
China retained its position as the biggest PC market in the Asia Pacific region except Japan, with a 37 per cent rise in sales in the second quarter,accounted for 34 per cent of the overall Asia Pacific market.
After a comparatively slow start in the first quarter, the Chinese market rose 37 per cent from the previous year.
China now account for more than a third of total PC sales in the Asia-Pacific region.
Government-led efforts to promote PC ownership combined with vendors' marketing initiatives will keep demand robust for the rest of the year, the research house said.
The booming development of dotcoms exaggerated the demand for PCs in the period, IDC said.
The tough competition between domestic and international firms also benefited consumers as it led to cheaper prices.
While these have been a key factor contributing to more local sales, improved service and support structures, flexibility and wider distribution channels are all aspects that will make local vendors formidable competition to the multinational vendors in the future.
In the second quarter of this year, the PC market in Asia/Pacific excluding Japan continued to push boundaries back as shipments reached a staggering 48 million units, exceeding sales from the previous year's period by 35 per cent and 11 per cent from the first quarter of the year.
The strong growth pattern exhibited in the first half of 2000 is expected to continue into the latter half of the year and annual PC volumes are expected to be 36 per cent higher than last year.
Because of exceptional PC demand in the first half of 2000, IDC this week raised its full year PC shipment forecast for the Asia Pacific region to 19.6 million.
Thriving consumer desktop and portable sales will largely drive the strong performance expected over the course of this year.
``With the government's supporting effort to promote PC ownership in China, demand will continue to accelerate'', said IDC.
The proliferation of low-cost PCs, the popularity of the Internet, and price/performance values are driving a change beyond traditional methods of selling.
While still in their infancy, these new business models provide greater flexibility enabling vendors to take advantage of multiple opportunities and push PC demand to many more customers.
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