PC growth in Europe slows as demand for netbooks wanes

Vendor ranking

Acer hung on to its dominant market share but Lenovo posted the most growth in Q3 year on year.

In fact, Acer had a soft quarter with only 3.4 percent growth across EMEA, the lowest of all the vendors and recorded its first decline in Western Europe. IDC said the bad performance across mature markets was due to sharp decline in netbook shipments.

HP dropped to second place in the overall ranking as its growth dropped compared to previous more successful quarters. However, it secured gains across CEE of 45 percent growth. Meanwhile, Dell continued to benefit from the gradual commercial market rebound, growing by 12.2 percent across EMEA.

IDC said Dell's growth was robust in Western Europe, where the vendor drove solid gains in the commercial space with desktops and laptops. However, it remained constrained in the consumer space, directly impacted by more limited channel presence and product push.

Lenovo had the most successful quarter year on year across EMEA, posting 60 percent growth. IDC said: "The vendor's continued focus and execution in the commercial segment paid off, leveraging from increasing enterprise refreshes in Western Europe, while Lenovo continued to expand in the consumer segment, launching new models in the IdeaPad consumer PC family."

Beyond the top 5, Toshiba did well in the CEE and MEA regions, while Apple delivered strong performances and gained share in the consumer space. Samsung continued to gain share in Western Europe, but the largest push this quarter was seen in the CEE region, while Apple benefited in Q3 from the iPad and Apple branding, which boosted demand for the Apple brand.

Here is a chart of the top 5 vendors across EMEA in terms of Q3 PC shipments

Source: IDC EMEA Quarterly PC Tracker, Preliminary Results, 3Q10, October 19, 2010