PC sales in Asia-Pacific rise to 23.4 million in Q3: report

Sales of personal computers (PCs) in the Asia-Pacific region rose 17 percent from a year ago to 23.4 million units in the third quarter, an industry monitor said Tuesday.

Major government contracts in China and Taiwan boosted the July-September sales, which were up 18 percent from the previous quarter, information technology research firm IDC said in a statement.

The IDC data, which does not include Japan, covers 16 markets including India, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and New Zealand.

"It's great to see the PC market picking up here in the region," said Bryan Ma, IDC's director for regional personal systems research.

"Even though a lot of the momentum may be coming specifically from China, the enthusiasm should start to spread to the point where the entire region gets off on the right foot next year."

China's Lenovo retained its ranking as the region's number one PC vendor with a market share of almost 20 percent during the September quarter, followed by US-based Hewlett-Packard at 18.3 percent, IDC said.

(c) 2009 AFP