And there’s more
Another part of IDC published data on the global microprocessor market today and it revealed that shipments rose by 10.1 percent in Q2 compared to Q1. This compares to a quarter-on-quarter decline of 10.9 percent in Q1. Of particular note was an increase in shipments of Intel's Atom processor of 34 percent, compared to the previous quarter.
Shane Rau, director of Semiconductors: Personal Computing research at IDC, urged caution in interpreting these figures. "The percentage of Intel's revenue earned in Asia/Pacific grew from 51% in 1Q09 to 55% in 2Q09," he said.
"This fact, combined with the significant sequential 'snap-back' rise in Intel's overall processor shipments-particularly Atom shipments-while AMD's overall shipments were about flat, indicate that the PC processor market didn't recover in 2Q09. Instead, the market balanced out due to Intel driving Atom processors into ODMs who manufacture the systems, particularly in China and Taiwan."
Lastly Synovate, which tracks the UK retail market, reflected on better than expected footfall for the second month running, with non-food retail footfall increasing 8.4 percent on the previous month.
Once more, however, caution was urged, this time by Synovate retail psychologist Dr Tim Denison. "We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves here, or be under any false illusion; the real action will return again in the autumn, when the spectre of public spending cuts, job insecurity and pay freezes reappears to test our resolve. In the meantime though, we can enjoy something of a respite."
