M East, Africa computer market suffer sharpest ever decline

The Middle East and Africa computer market has suffered 25.6 per cent drop in the second quarter this year, the steepest decline ever recorded in the region.
Overall personal computer shipments for the quarter fell to 3.3 million units, according to global technology research and consulting firm International Data Corporation (IDC).
Desktops were down 21.2 per cent year on year to 1.4 million units, while the notebook segment declined 28.6 per cent to total 1.9 million units.
"Two of the biggest declines were seen in Turkey and the 'Rest of the Middle East' region (Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan and Palestine)," research manager for personal computing and infrastructure solutions at IDC Middle East, Africa and Turkey Fouad Charakla said yesterday.

"Both these territories carried over high inventory levels from the previous quarter as a result of a slowdown in demand. This factor was an inhibitor of personal computer shipments in other parts of the region as well, including the UAE.
"Currency fluctuations also had a negative impact on supply and demand in several key markets across the region. In the UAE, a slowdown in tourism spending primarily from Russia and Europe continued to inhibit PC (personal computer) demand," Charakla said.
The top three vendor positions remained unchanged from the last few quarters, with each of the leading vendors suffering significant year-on-year declines in their shipments to the region.

HP continued to lead in terms of market share but saw its shipments fall 26 per cent year on year. Second-placed Lenovo suffered a 19 per cent decline, third-placed Dell posted a downturn of 10.3 per cent and fourth-placed Acer recorded a decrease of 29.3 per cent. Asus maintained its position at number five but experienced a decline of 26.7 per cent.