14 DAY TRIAL // The EMEA space - Europe, Middle East and Africa - is one of the most competitive computer hardware markets. Hardware sales in this area are constantly growing and now, for the first time ever, at least in EMEA space, notebook and laptop sales have outgrown desktop computer systems sales by more than 100 percent. Preliminary data from an IDC study cited by the Web based computer news site PCRetail shows that while desktop computer sales went up with 13.5 percent, the growth of the mobile segment of the market was more than 31 percent.
From more than 17.5 million computers sold in the EMEA space during the second quarter of 2007, most of them were mobile systems that virtually provided all the market growth. Notebook sales went up primarily because of a large product offering, the need to upgrade to newer systems and very attractive sale prices and promotions through the retail channels. Because of a fierce competition in the retail and SMB channels between leading vendors and hardware manufacturers like HP and Acer, consumers had the opportunity to benefit from a very rich promotional environment, which in turn assisted the market growth.
"While portable adoption continues to drive growth across the region, 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, while Eszter Morvay, senior research analyst for IDC's EMEA PC Research Group, said that: "The further shift to widescreen models, the rising share of desktop replacement notebooks from 17in. and above, the continued focus on design and aesthetics, and the accelerating dual-core shift will continue to shape notebook demand throughout the year."
So it seems that according to IDC, EMEA-located computer users have all the reasons to be glad of a dynamic market that will help them use better PC systems. With every new computer model, be it a mobile or a desktop one, the IT market share in the EMEA space will grow a little more and finally those who will benefit the most will be the consumers that will have a wide range of products to choose from.