Surge in notebook PC shipments drive overall growth in UAE and Saudi PC markets in Q402

Total PC sales reached 63,847 units in the UAE and 72,862 units in Saudi Arabia. The UAE Desktop and PC Server market grew by 3.4% and 16%, respectively, however, much of the growth stemmed from an unprecedented surge in notebook PC sales, particularly in the UAE, where deliveries more than doubled from Q401. "This expansion in portable PC placements was mainly driven by the explicit intention of vendors to push through notebook PC stocks to their Middle East distributors in order to meet with the demands of the re-scheduled Dubai Shopping Festival", comments Omar Shihab, Research Analyst, IDC MENA. Mr. Shihab further adds, "The continued decline in notebook PC prices has also encouraged many SMBs and SoHo customers to opt for portable computers".

In contrast, the Saudi PC market recorded a modest unit shipment growth of 10% in Q4 last year. This was also mainly driven by an increase in notebook PC shipments to the Kingdom, expanding by 13% year-on-year to reach 13,147 units. IDC however, did not record any remarkable growth in the Saudi desktop and PC server market. "The limited expansion in PC sales in the Kingdom mainly stemmed from a wait & watch attitude adopted by several large end-users, primarily in the government administration sector", remarked Omar Shihab. A select few large deliveries however, continued in the fourth quarter, such as the project for the Ministry of Education.
IDC is optimistic in its outlook for Q1 2003. PC deliveries will not be greatly affected, as distributors have maintained their PC stock levels. Preliminary IDC estimates suggest that PC sales will expand by 15% and 8% (year-on-year) in UAE and Saudi Arabia, respectively.