PC shipments grow but business sector suffers

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The PC market in Western Europe has shown a slight decrease compared to figures from 2008 but, sequentially, shipments are on the rise, according to Gartner.

A total of 16.7 million units were shipped across the area, which was a small decrease of 0.3 per cent compared to the same period last year. However, shipments rose by 30 per cent from the second quarter of this year, showing a return to seasonal growth patterns.

The UK market was a close reflection of the overall figures, showing a slightly larger decrease of 2.4 per cent compared to last year but a sequential rise of 30 per cent since the second quarter.

Ranjit Atwal, a principal Gartner analyst said he still had concerns for the business sector though.

“The decline in the PC market in the UK has slowed down and the return to growth will be slow and a difficult process. While the consumer market continued to defy the economic environment, the business market was still very weak," he said in a statement.

The mobile market in the UK was growing, put down to an increase in consumers purchasing netbooks, with Acer and Samsung seeing great success in this area.

But Atwal said that the professional market will continue to be weak and will remain so into the first half of 2010.

He concluded: “The PC market in the UK was weaker than both Germany and France, and it is not expected to become stronger than those countries in the near future.”

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