65 Lakh PCs Shipped In 2007: IDC

The India client PC market crossed yet another milestone to ship nearly 6.5
million PCs in a CY, thereby recording 20 percent YoY growth in unit shipments.
This is compared to 5.4 million units in 2006. This was reported by CyberMedia
India subsidiary, IDC India as one of the key results of the India Quarterly PC
Tracker, 4Q 2007.

Commenting on the findings, Kapil Dev Singh, Country Manager, IDC India said,
“In CY2007, notebook PC shipments accounted for over a fourth of the total
client PC shipments. This healthy trend points to the maturing of the Indian IT
market and shift into a new phase of growth-Growth Phase 2.0. The notebook PC
shipments touching 1.8 million units as against 0.98 million in 2006, reinforces
the increasing acceptance of laptops as the preferred choice for a large number
of first time PC buyers.”

In the overall client PC (notebooks and desktops combi­ned) market,HP
retained the top spot with a marketshare of 21 percent, followed by HCL at 13
percent, and Lenovo at 10 percent in terms of unit shipments.

In terms of commercial desktop PC shipments,HCL led the market followed by HP
and Lenovo. In terms of consumer desktop PC shipments, HP led the market in
2007, followed by HCL and LG Electronics.

In the total notebook PC market, HP retained the top spot with a marketshare
of 37 percent in 2007 in terms of unit shipments. Lenovo and Acer were at second
and third spots with marketshares of 16 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

Facts revealed

The survey showed that a supportive ecosystem was urgently needed. Such an
ecosystem would encourage development and widespread adoption of the
3Cs-communication, convergence and content-to spur future growth.

Notebook PC shipments accounted for 27 percent of the total India client PC
share in CY 2007 as consumer client PC growth shot ahead of commercial PC
shipments growth in 2007. According to Piyush Pushkal, Manager-PC Research, IDC
India, “With consumer desktop shipments reporting flat growth, the higher
overall growth of the consumer client PC segment signals maturing of the
market.”

With portability being the prime driver for notebook PC sales, the market
witnessed launch of new notebook PC-type products featuring small screen sizes
at a sub-Rs 20,000 price point. The PC-type gadgets such as the Asus Eee PC and
HCL's MiLeapX incorporate an intuitive graphic user interface for simplicity and
ease of use. Many more such gadgets are expected in 2008.

“These low-end notebook PC-type gadgets are not likely to increase PC
penetration in India in a significant manner. To increase PC penetration, the
ecosystem will need to offer more affordable Internet infrastructure, growing
number of local applications and Indian language content, e-commerce and
education. The PC-type gadgets are likely to function only as secondary
computing devices in existing PC owning households,” Pushkal commented. He noted
that it is not just product features but relevance of PCs in the lives of
ordinary citizens that needs to be addressed.

DQC News Bureau