Canadian PC Market Rebounds Strongly with Highest Shipments on Record: Lead by frantic demand for mini notebooks

November 16, 2009

TORONTO, Canada, November 16, 2009 – The overall Canadian Client PC market rebounded strongly in the third quarter with unit volume up 3.6% over the same period last year and up and astonishing 48.3% from a weak Q2 2009, to reach 1,764,213 units shipped. Total PC shipments in the third quarter are the highest on record for Canada.

Once again the rapidly spreading demand for mini notebooks continues to push portable PC shipments and drive the overall PC client market to higher growth rates. "There is almost a frantic demand for Mini Notebooks by consumers. This demand has been fueled by major pricing actions taken by the leading manufacturers, dramatically lowering their prices in Q3. The lower price points will ensure that this holiday season is going to find more consumers gravitating toward the smaller and lighter products for use on the go and could make this the best time ever to buy a PC." Says Tim Brunt Senior Analyst at IDC.

The desktop PC market continued its rapid decline with a -26.9% YoY growth. The decline of desktops was slowed somewhat by the increased popularity of the all-in-one form product category. All-in-one's accounted for almost 12% of desktop shipments in Q3. Desktop shipments were also buoyed by stronger demand in the Education segment, following the traditional pattern.

The Consumer segment grew by 7.2% YoY, primarily driven by a 34.0% YoY increase in portable PC shipments to Home users, but that growth was off-set by a -41.2% YoY decline in desktops. Consumer shipments now account for almost 56% of total PC shipments.

PC category highlights include:

1. Portable PC shipments performed ahead of forecasts, growing 26.3% YoY on 1,233,417 units.
2. Desktop PC shipments also performed above expectations, shipping 530,796 units in total for the quarter but down about 27% over the same period last year.
3. Mini Notebooks accounted for more than 250,000 units shipped in the third quarter, representing more units shipped than the entire first half of 2009.

1. Overall PC Client performance for the quarter was driven by impressive sequential gains for both HP and Acer. Combined, the two vendors shipped more than 350,000 units in the third quarter versus the second quarter.
2. HP continued to hold on to the top share in the overall Client PC market, expanding their share to 26.5%. HP retained top spot with 26.0% share of desktop shipments and retook the top spot in portable shipments with a 26.7% share.
3. Acer moved into second spot overall with a 19.7% share, driven mainly by an explosive increase in mini notebook shipments.
4. Dell rounded out the top three with a 15.8% overall share. Dell dropped to fourth place in portables shipments, taking a modest 12.6% share of that form factor.

About IDC

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IDC is a division of IDG, the world's leading IT media, research and exposition company.

Contact

For more information please contact:

Tatiana Abramova
Marketing & Sales Operations Specialist
Phone: (416) 673-2299
E-mail: tabramova@idccanada.com