Asia Pacific PC sales down five pct in first quarter: report

Sales of personal computers in the Asia Pacific region excluding Japan fell five percent in the first quarter from the previous year as a global economic slump hurt demand, a report said Monday.

However, strong sales of portable PCs in markets like China, Hong Kong and Taiwan limited the overall decline and kept total shipments close to forecasts during the quarter, industry research firm IDC said.

"Even though the quarter was soft, it was somewhat relieving to see that the region's market was able to hold up to forecasts... especially compared to a dismal fourth quarter," said IDC analyst Bryan Ma.

But he said the market was not out of the woods yet.

"The economy is still showing mixed signals, and recent political instability in markets like Thailand created further uncertainty," he said, referring to recent anti-government riots in Bangkok.

"Commercial buying is thus still likely to remain questionable this year, but hopefully consumer portables can help offset that."

Although overall computer shipments were down, sales for portable PCs rose 12 percent from the previous year, the report said.

Chinese computer giant Lenovo remained the maket leader with a 16.9 percent market share, followed by US rivals Hewlett-Packard and Dell, with Taiwan's Acer in fourth place, IDC said.

(c) 2009 AFP