Asia-Pacific PC market grew in Q1 of 2011

A study conducted by the International Data Corp. (IDC) shows that the Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) PC market grew 1 percent sequentially and 7 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2011 reaching 26.8 million units, amid weak consumer spending.

Consumers are reported to be distracted by inflation and competing product categories such as media tablets. However, Indonesia and Korea were stronger than expected, but the weight of China and India kept the whole region from exceeding IDC's forecasts.

Bryan Ma, associate vice president for client devices research at IDC Asia-Pacific, also said that inflation and other competing consumer devices are not the only reasons weakening the PC market growth. "Supply chain risks due to the recent earthquake in Japan also add uncertainty to the market," said Ma.

However, Ma still has positive remarks about the PC market in the region. "Still, commercial spending is expected to improve later this year to help keep the region moving to around 10 percent growth in 2011," he said.

Despite the Lunar New Year slowdown in its home market of China, IDC says that Lenovo remained the top vendor in the region, with its market share higher than the same period one year ago. HP was down in unit terms compared to its performance last year, but at least it managed to arrest its share losses through a recovery in countries like China. Dell's regional share rebounded from last quarter with strong performances in both China and India markets. ASUS too, was able to gain ground through on-going channel expansion to lower tier cities in China.