Slower quarter does not mean slow growth in the Middle East and Africa PC markets, says IDC

According to IDC's first quarter PC Tracker, the market grew to 1.80 million units, up 20.5% compared with the same period last year. Notebooks displayed the highest growth rate, with shipments jumping more than 39% compared with Q1 2004. By contrast, the desktop market expanded by 16.2% and the x86 server market by 28.5%. Nevertheless, desktops still dominated in the region, accounting for 77.2% of overall volume.

"The first quarter is generally a slow time for large projects in the Middle East and Africa," says Tomas Oupicky, Senior Analyst, IDC CEMA's Systems Group. "In the Arab Gulf in particular, shopping festivals and IT exhibitions drove sales, especially to small and home offices and small and medium-sized businesses."

The two countries with the largest populations, South Africa and Turkey, were again the largest country markets in the region in Q1 2005 and together accounted for just under a third of total shipments. In terms of uptake per person, the United Arab Emirates led the field, with more than 51 PCs sold per 1,000 people, nearly twice that of Israel, which was in second position at 25.6.

"When talking about the region we have to remember the markets are very diverse," says Oupicky. He points out that in the UAE, notebook shipments are on a par with desktops, and regularly outsell them. In South Africa, on the other hand, desktops outsold notebooks by more than three to one. "In Egypt this number was more than seven and a half to one," says Oupicky. "In the more underdeveloped parts of Africa, this number jumps to nearly nine to one, showing how important desktops are to emerging markets."

IDC's PC Quarterly Tracker delivers timely intelligence and an inclusive database that details changes and trends in the highly competitive MEA (Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Rest of Africa, and Rest of Middle East) PC markets. The tracker enables users to view data by volume, value, country, year, quarter, vendor, brand, processor brand, and channel. It provides comprehensive analysis of the region's PC markets. It also includes easy-to-read summaries that breakdown volume and value by form factor, vendor, and end-user segment.