International brands gain ground in sizzling Gulf PC market, says IDC

According to a recent IDC study, the expansion was fueled by strong demand for notebooks and large desktop projects in the government and education sectors. Notebook demand gave international players an edge by lifting their profile and in 2005 they managed to increase their market share from just over 79% to nearly 84% at the expense of local assemblers and non-branded imports.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE were the top two PC markets in the GCC in 2005, competing neck-in-neck for first in both shipment numbers and value. Saudi Arabia grabbed the top spot in PC shipment volume while the UAE placed first in revenue. Kuwait ranked third in both volume and value. "The UAE's commercial centers are still booming - firmly rooted businesses are expanding and new firms are moving in," says Omar Shihab, Research Manager, PCs and Systems, IDC Middle East and Africa. "Although this has spurred demand in the Emirates, the Saudi market is actually growing faster overall."

Notebooks were the driving force of the GCC markets in 2005, with shipments shooting up by more than 75% and accounting for 48% of total market volume. Nevertheless, desktops still outnumbered notebooks in total - though just barely- and had a healthy year with shipments rising by more than 20%. The x86 server market also expanded an exceptional 40.6% in shipments to account for 2.5% of total market volume. "The flexibility notebooks afford is now seen as essential to business in the region," says Shihab. "Small and home offices and small and medium-sized businesses in particular invested heavily in portables and will continue to do so, especially as wireless technology makes mobility a growing reality."

HP, Acer, and Dell took the top three spots in the overall PC vendor rankings in the GCC last year, both in terms of shipment volume and revenue. Together they were responsible for nearly 62% of shipments and over 59% of revenue. In the notebook segment, Acer grabbed the top spot in shipment number and Toshiba was first in revenue.

IDC expects demand for PCs in the GCC to stay strong over the next few years, with overall shipments rising nearly 39% this year and 25% the following year. Already outselling desktops in the UAE, notebooks will supplant desktops as the leading form factor in the GCC sometime this year.

IDC's Gulf States Personal Computing 2006-2010 Forecast and 2005 Vendor Shares (IDC# ZJ03N) provides detailed analysis, conclusions, and forecasts regarding the dynamics of the Gulf States market for personal computers. It provides an understanding of the changes and challenges facing the PC industry in the region and includes detailed breakdowns by vendor, form factor, sales channel, and end user. IDC's 2005 figures and analysis are based on information gathered from interviews with the leading IT companies (vendors, distributors, assemblers, system integrators, value-added resellers, and dealers) in the Gulf States markets.