Europe hit by falling PC sales

PC shipments in Western Europe continued to fall during the quarter, with the UK seeing the biggest decline, while France and Germany saw negative growth and the decline is set to continue for the rest of 2009, according to a study.

Information technology market research firm Gartner said yesterday that PC shipments in Western Europe totalled 13.3 million units in the second quarter of 2009, a 3.3 per cent decline from the same period in 2008.

''The Western European PC market saw a diverging trend,'' said Ranjit Atwal, principal analyst at Gartner, UK. On one side, the market saw a 21 per cent decline in the professional market and on the other, it recorded a 21 per cent growth in the consumer market.

The strength of the mini-notebook market, which now constitutes more than a quarter of all consumer shipments, gave the market some momentum. ''You have to view the market with and without mini-notebooks to understand the true picture,'' he added.

''Without mini-notebooks, the market would have declined more than 15 per cent, but given the new routes to market and price points of these PCs, they have managed to prevent a more severe decline.''

All three major markets the UK, France and Germany saw negative growth and the decline is set to continue for the rest of 2009. Although the UK was the weakest, France and Germany were on the same trajectory with demand in professional and consumer markets expected to weaken.