HP's challenge in a nutshell
Market researcher IDC has unveiled its final results for the global PC market in Q2, and they reveal a shift on the centre of gravity of the global PC market.
For what we presume to be the first time, China accounted for more PC shipments than the US in the last quarter - representing 22 percent of the global PC market, compared to the US's 21 percent. Due to greater relative volumes in the US over the holiday period, IDC reckons the US will still hang onto the top spot for the 2011 calendar year, but will be overtaken next year.
"There are of course still risks ahead for China, including not just inflation but also the impact of economic conditions in the U.S. and Europe," said Kitty Fok, VP for Greater China research at IDC. "But in the meantime, the Chinese government's 12th Five-Year Plan should help large enterprises in various infrastructure verticals to continue to move along, not to mention of course the ongoing efforts to increase consumer penetration in lower-tier cities."
"China's lead in the PC market is a huge shift that reflects the rising fortunes of emerging markets as well as the relative stagnation of more mature regions." said Loren Loverde, VP of the worldwide PC tracker. "While the immediate economic circumstances in the US and other markets had a significant impact on the timing of China's move to the lead, they have not changed the trend, but accelerated it."
Worldwide PC Market Share by Country, Q2 2011 (Historical) and Calendar Year 2011 and 2012 (Forecast)
(Market Share based on Unit Shipments)
|
Country |
2011 Q2 |
CY2011 |
CY2012 |
|
PRC |
22.0% |
20.3% |
21.8% |
|
USA |
21.0% |
20.6% |
19.6% |
|
Others |
57.1% |
59.1% |
58.5% |
|
Total |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, August 23, 2011
IDC has also published its latest global server figures, and they reveal a continuation of the trend in IBM's favour we saw last quarter. IBM is now the leader, by revenue, something CEO Leo Apotheker was no doubt aware of when he announced HP would be focusing on the business market from now on.
"Server market growth accelerated in 2Q11 and experienced its highest reported second quarter revenue in three years with all geographies contributing to the positive year-over-year growth. This was the fifth consecutive quarter with double-digit year-over-year revenue growth as the market recovery continued to extend from x86 servers to midrange Unix to high-end mainframe class systems," said Matt Eastwood, VP of enterprise platforms at IDC.
"While 2Q11 was an exceptionally strong quarter, attention has already turned to the market outlook for the second half of the year. IDC believes that weakening macroeconomic conditions around the world will serve to moderate demand for new servers later this year."
IBM is also haunting HP in the PC market, in the form of Lenovo, which bought IGM's PC division back in 2004. The shift of the global PC market towards China greatly benefits Lenovo, which has a massive advantage over other PC vendors in China. This, too, probably contributed to the HP strategic rethink.
Top 5 Corporate Family, Worldwide Server Systems Factory Revenue, Second Quarter of 2011
(Revenues are in Millions)
|
Vendor |
2Q11 |
2Q11 Market |
2Q10 |
2Q10 |
2Q11/2Q10 |
|
|
Revenue |
Share |
Revenue |
Market |
Revenue |
|
|
|
|
|
Share |
Growth |
|
1. IBM |
$4,008 |
30.5% |
$3,219 |
28.9% |
24.5% |
|
1. HP |
$3,922 |
29.8% |
$3,589 |
32.2% |
9.3% |
|
3. Dell |
$1,814 |
13.8% |
$1,725 |
15.5% |
5.1% |
|
4. Oracle |
$941 |
7.2% |
$903 |
8.1% |
4.2% |
|
4. Fujitsu |
$849 |
6.5% |
$363 |
3.3% |
133.6% |
|
Others |
$1,621 |
12.3% |
$1,355 |
12.1% |
19.7% |
|
All Vendors |
$13,156 |
100.0% |
$11,154 |
100.0% |
17.9% |
|
IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, August 2011 |
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