iPads and inflation: Double I's hurting PC sales

The Asia/Pacific (ex Japan) PC market posted a flat 1% growth for 1Q11, with only 26.8 mln units sold.

The figure represents a mere 7% year-on-year increase in sales, according to IDC.

Stronger sales in Indonesia and Korea were not enough to offset the losses brought about by the increasing preference in China and India for tablet devices such as Apple's iPad and Samsung's Galaxy tablet.

In a statement,IDC said consumers remained distracted by inflation and competing product categories like media tablets.

"Inflation and other competing consumer devices are not the only reasons weakening the PC market growth, as supply chain risks due to the recent earthquake in Japan also add uncertainty to the market," said Bryan Ma, Associate Vice President for Client Devices Research at IDC Asia/ Pacific.

"Still, commercial spending is expected to improve later this year to help keep the region moving to around 10% growth in 2011."

Despite the Lunar New Year slowdown in its home market of China, 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 finally 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 ongoing channel expansion to lower tier cities in China.