Portable PC Market Growing Briskly

The PC market continued to grow at an impressive rate in the fourth quarter of 2005, research firm IDC said on Wednesday. Although U.S. shipments of computers were slower than forecast, international sales were better than expected, leading to a growth rate of 17.1 percent year over year, and 16.4 percent for the entire year.

IDC had expected 15.1 percent growth for the quarter and 15.8 percent for the year. The firm said portable PC demand helped drive sales and should remain over the next several quarters.

"Although growth has declined slightly from the second and third quarters, the market's resilience in the face of rising interest rates, high fuel prices, a weaker Euro, and other potential inhibitors puts the market in a great position to start 2006," IDC's director of the Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker Loren Loverde said.

Loverde added that IDC expects 38 percent of PC shipments this quarter to fall into the portable category, and the desktop market may have reached a plateau in terms of growth due to low pricing strategies. However, Vista and Intel's Viiv may help to buoy these markets, he added.

Regionally, U.S. buyers seemed to prefer portables to desktops in the face of hurricane damage, higher interest rates, and higher fuel costs that analysts feared would reduce spending. A similar story occurred across Europe and Asia, with business buys in the European market accelerating growth.

By vendor, Dell remained the top seller worldwide during the quarter, followed by HP, Lenovo, Acer, and Fujitsu. Dell also took top honors for the year with 18.1 percent of sales worldwide, followed by HP with 15.6 percent and Lenovo with 6.2 percent.

For 2006, IDC expects 10.6 percent growth, which is a conservative estimate based on concerns over rising interest rates, housing and fuel prices.