Mini-note PC (netbook) shipments grow at twice the rate of notebooks in Q2’09

AUSTIN, USA: In Q2’09, the total notebook PC market posted strong Q/Q and Y/Y growth as units surged past the 38 million mark, as reported in the DisplaySearch Q3’09 Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report.

The mini-note PC (netbook) market was particularly strong, growing 40 percent Q/Q, which was twice the impressive 22 percent Q/Q growth rate of larger notebook PCs. The strong growth of mini-note PCs drove their share of the portable computer markets to 22.2 percent in Q2’09, as shown in Table 1.

Asus, the pioneer in mini-note PCs, has been steadily losing share because Tier 1 brands like Acer, HP, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba have become increasingly aggressive in this segment.

Table 1: Notebook and Mini-Note Share of Portable Computer ShipmentsSource: DisplaySearch Q3’09 Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report.

Mini-note penetration in Latin America and Greater China is higher than notebook PC penetration, as shown in Table 2. The low prices of mini-note PCs make these products more affordable for these emerging markets, and these regions have many first-time PC buyers, who are less likely to require all the bells and whistles available on a larger mainstream notebook PC.

Table 2: Q2’09 Notebook and Mini-Note Shipment Share and Y/Y Growth by RegionSource: DisplaySearch Q3’09 Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report.

In many regions, telecom providers have been offering subsidized mini-notes for several quarters, which helped propel growth. In Western European countries, a number of telecoms are subsidizing 100 percent of the price of the mini-note when the customer signs a two-year data plan contract.

In North America, telecom providers are aggressively marketing mini-notes with a two-year data plan contract, while some cable providers are offering heavily discounted mini-notes as an incentive to sign a contract for cable TV, Internet and phone service. The incentives have been quite successful in Europe.

In North America, these promotions were only test marketed in Q2’09, so there is insufficient data to determine if they will achieve the same measure of success.
Mini-notes have been a significant contributor to the growth in the portable PC market as their very attractive price points make owning a secondary computer viable for many consumers.

“Mini-note PC screen sizes have increased steadily, from 7.0" to 8.9” and then to 10.2". Some panel makers and brands are promoting 11.6" mini-note displays, leading to an overlap with ultraportable notebooks. However, the higher prices of these larger netbooks diminish their cost advantage.

In addition to many other key players in the supply chain, Microsoft indicated it is their desire to increase the ASP of mini-notes. A significant increase to the ASP of mini-notes may deter consumers that are predominantly using mini-notes as secondary PCs,” said John F. Jacobs, Director of Notebook Market Research.

PC outlook improves as consumer spending stabilizes shipments

FRAMINGHAM, USA: As in the first quarter of 2009, global PC shipments again came in slightly ahead of expectations in the second quarter (2Q09), lessening fears over the extent of the PC market slump.

Worldwide PC shipments (including Desktop and Portable PCs, but excluding x86 Servers) were down 3.1 percent from the second quarter of 2008 –- a notable improvement over an expected decline of 6.3 percent, according to IDC’'s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker.

All regions either met or surpassed expectations. Although the global downturn is still making its effects felt in the PC industry, the slump has been mitigated by a PC market which has seen the computing experience evolve to be more personal, portable, and cost-oriented rather than performance-driven. Portable PCs continue to be the primary driver of volume and growth with all regions seeing strong Portable shipments.

"These results are a very positive indicator for the second half of the year," said Loren Loverde, program director for IDC’s Tracker Program. "We are seeing continued demand from consumers and limited impact from supply chain factors such as inventory balancing.

"New product launches in the second half of the year combined with seasonal growth and greater economic confidence resulting from factors such as government stimulus, a more liquid housing market, relatively stable stock market and interest rates, and progress in the auto and financial industries, should support the expected return to growth by year-end."

While the market has outperformed expectations for a second consecutive quarter, the lack of commercial activity remains a drag on growth. The commercial segment remains more conservative with spending, focusing on other priorities and preserving cash. As a result, the segment has not been as motivated by falling prices and new portable designs as the consumer segment.

“Despite continued contraction from a year ago, the US market managed a better-than-average sequential performance –- an indication of a stabilizing or improving market. While the sequential growth may be a hint of recovery, the market’s focus on lower-price PCs and Mini Notebooks is likely to drag the value of the market to lower levels,” says Bob O'Donnell, vice president, Clients and Displays.

“The market continues to rely on consumer purchases, with a substantial weakness in the commercial space. We expect to see more of the same as we enter the busy shopping season of the second half of the year. In the longer term, an expected recovery in the commercial segment should boost growth in 2011.”

Regional Outlook
United States: The US PC market declined by 3 percent year over year in the second quarter, matching forecasts for the market. Ongoing healthy volume through Retail spurred Portables to exceed forecasts, but that was offset by Commercial sluggishness and Desktop volume below expectations. Dell regained its lead by a small margin, but remains hampered by slow commercial spending.

Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA): In line with IDC's forecast, the EMEA PC market continued to contract for the second consecutive quarter. The Portable PC market performed ahead of expectations, maintaining single-digit positive growth, thanks to continued uptake of mini notebooks in the consumer segment and additional momentum generated by the telco channel. But whilst the consumer market held up well, spending in the commercial segment remained constrained across all form factors.

Japan: Shipments declined slower than expected in the second quarter, with year-over-year growth improving notably from the first quarter. Nevertheless, the Japanese market continues to be plagued by tepid Commercial activity and a Consumer market shifting towards lower cost Portables, which has benefited non-Japanese OEMs with a clear focus on Mini Notebook PCs.

Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ): PC shipments exceeded forecasts, fueled by very strong Portables growth, particularly in Southeast Asia. China was a bright spot in the region, while India came in close to expectations. Shipment growth returned to positive territory after several quarters of declining volume.

Vendor Highlights
HP: It made further inroads into Consumer Portables through the Retail channel and continued to gain share overall. The vendor grew 3.6 percent year over year worldwide with above-market performance in the U.S. The company also performed well in Europe and Asia/Pacific.

Dell: Although still heavily affected by the Commercial slump, Dell saw good growth from consumer-focused SKUs and reclaimed the number 1 spot in the US. The company continues to restructure operations, develop its Consumer business, and should benefit from an eventual rebound in the Commercial segment.

Acer: It continues to capitalize on its growing channel presence to ship Portables geared toward a wide range of cost-conscious consumers. The company maintained its lead in Mini Notebook PCs while its early entry into Atom-based Notebooks should also pay dividends later in the year. The company saw a significant gain in the US market, likely benefiting from the troubles of Dell and Lenovo.

Lenovo: Its renewed focus on Notebooks and emerging regions produced positive growth following declines in the past two quarters. Solid growth was reported in Latin America and APeJ while yearly declines in mature regions slowed compared to 1Q09. Its home court advantage in APeJ also has led it to focus on a myriad of government stimulus programs, which could pay dividends while riding through the Commercial downturn.

Toshiba: It had a solid second quarter where it outgrew the market in most regions and moved up to the fourth spot in the US. Toshiba's Mini Notebook offering has helped it to weather the storm comparatively better than other Japanese OEMs and it was the only major Japanese OEM to have positive yearly growth in Japan.Table Notes:

* Some IDC estimates prior to financial earnings reports.
* Shipments include shipments to distribution channels or end users.
* PCs include Desktop and Portable PCs (including Mini Notebooks)
* PCs do not include x86 Servers or handhelds. Data for all vendors are reported for calendar periods.

Global PC shipments plunge at historic rate in Q1

EL SEGUNDO, USA: Worldwide PC shipments in the first quarter fell by the largest historic rate in the seven years iSuppli Corp. has been tracking the market, as weaker-than-expected desktop sales dragged down the industry, according to iSuppli Corp.

PC shipments in the first quarter of 2009 amounted to 66.5 million units, an 8.1 percent decline from 72.3 million during the same period in 2008, and a 14.4 percent drop from 77.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2008.

“The worldwide recession sparked by the credit crisis slammed PC shipments for the second quarter in succession during the first three months of 2009,” said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for compute platforms research at iSuppli.

“The first-quarter performance of the worldwide PC market was worse than iSuppli had expected in its prior forecast, which called for a 4 percent decline in shipments compared to the same period in 2008. After a long period of immunity to the global downturn, the economic crisis finally has begun to impact the PC market.”

The desktop segment was the major culprit for the PC decline, with first-quarter unit shipments dropping by 23 percent compared to the same period in 2008. In contrast, notebook shipments grew 10 percent compared to the first quarter of 2008.Source: iSuppli, June 2009

Top-5 PC makers retain ranks
There were no changes in the rankings of the world’s Top-5 PC OEMs in the first quarter compared to the same period a year earlier.

Hewlett-Packard remained the No.-1 PC OEM for the 11th successive quarter, with its shipments remaining flat from a year earlier at 13 million units. The company held a market share of 19.7 percent.

Dell experienced an 18.7 percent drop in PC unit shipments, declining to 8.8 million in the first quarter, compared to 10.8 million during the same period in the 2008. The company’s market share declined to 13.2 percent, down from 14.9 percent in the first quarter of 2008.

“Dell’s performance in the first quarter was heavily influenced by its weak desktop shipments, which dragged down its overall market share,” Wilkins said.

The remainder of the Top-5 was rounded out by the Asian PC OEMs, Acer, Lenovo and Toshiba, which had market shares of 11.1, 6.7, and 5.2 percent, respectively.

Toshiba posted the strongest growth among the Top-5 on a percentage basis, with its shipments rising by 13.5 percent from a year earlier.

Platform exposure
iSuppli in the first quarter continued to observe strong netbook sales through network operator retail stores. The Top-5 PC OEMs cited sales through such outlets as driving demand for their netbook products.

“The bundling of a low-cost portable computer and an Internet access package clearly has struck a chord with consumers,” Wilkins said. “The reduced upfront pricing of such packages provided by monthly contract plans also has been a strong factor propelling their success.”

iSuppli predicts that netbooks will account for 14 percent of worldwide notebook PC shipments in 2009, up from 9 percent last year.

COMPUTEX TAIPEI moves into new era with green technology and precision design

The worlds leading ICT event COMPUTEX TAIPEI was held on 2-6 June. The five-day exhibition has attracted numerous international professions and players to showcase the most advanced technologies as well as the best innovative products.

While global companies tend to put more efforts into Green Technology and Precision Design product developments, more electronic components and end-user products apply with green concepts that will drive future markets. Being the head of global ICT industry, Taiwan manufacturers have shown ambitious to provide a full range of green products through the whole supply chain. In addition, to showcase their capabilities to connect with energy-saving, cost-reducing and green-power industrial design trend.

Saving green for new generation technology
At the COMPUTEX TAIPEI CEO Summit Forum, Ike Harris, VP, Notebook Supply Chain, Personal System Group, HP has particularly indicated that 2 percent of the global carbon emission is generated by IT industry. Among all, PC and monitor account for 39 percent of IT-related products, while servers and cooling devices account for another 23 percent.

Ike mentioned, that every IT company should take their responsibility to cool down our earth, particularly to penetrate eco-friendly, energy-saving and environmental-sustainable resources into current production and research-and-development sectors. These considerable product lines include CPU, HDD, PCB, power supply, LED backlight and NB. Intel Ultra-Low Voltage Intel Core 2 dual core processor and 50 percent less power consumption HDD from Hitachi EcoTrac Travelstart5K500.B new range are some examples. The Travelstart5K500.B HDD even claims to achieve REACHs no-halogen PCB standard.

COMPUTEX TAIPEI is the best indicator to foresee computer products trend. Launched in the second season of this year, Intel ULV has specifically positioned at 11- to 13-inch NB market. Due to power-efficiency ULV platform, balance-price and ultra-thin, CULV NB will bring more possibility at mainstream system price points.

Taiwan suppliers who are specialized in rapid market demand response also take further steps to emphasize at green design and green marketing. Leading brands such as ACER, ASUS, MSI and GIGABYTE all introduce a number of CULV NB ranges.

The market also forecasts that CULV NB may also overlap Netbook market by the end of 2009 due to fierce price competition. CULV NB has significant potential to grab the first and second computer market opportunity. Moreover, CULV NB and Netbook will drive the whole NB market growth in 2009.

In power supply sector, COMPUCASE Enterprise has launched its full range of 80PLUS Bronze, Silver and Gold standards. These power supplies all achieve minimum 80 percent conversion efficiency rate at any target power loading condition. 80PLUS is the new black to identify quality power-saving products now.

The GIGABYTE ODIN Plus serial deploys ultra durable solid capacitor technology as well as 80PLUS Bronze ready. Moreover, GIGABYTE ODIN GT power supply range also presents software controlled PSU which allows users to adjust suitable wattage, current, voltage, temperature and fan speed. The module cable management design further gives end-user a better option when considering "sufficient" green power usage.

To further extend the sufficient concept, SSD is another ideal green consideration. Exhibitors such as TRANSCEND, A-DATA and APACER have clearly positioned its SDD market segment with advantages such as slimmer, less energy usage, quieter and anti-shock. On the other hand, company such as ASIA VITAL COMPONENTS also introduced environmental-friendly fans.

Its upcoming biodegradable fan frame that developed together with international partner is going to launch by the end of this year too. Meanwhile, one winner of the Best Choice-Green ICT Award, ACER K10 pocket projector, also benefits from its handful appearance, 550g light weight, LED project lamp and mercury-free features that only consume 20 percent power than traditional projector.

Apart from energy-saving IT products, options such as solar power, fuel cell and LED applications are highly stressed too at the show ground. COMPUTEX TAIPEI is certainly the most ultimate trading platform in the global ICT industry together with complete green product solutions to meet global market demands.

Precision design key to drive market
From manufacturing to design, global IT companies not only aim at better product appearance but also material, outfit, technical, color scheme and packaging. It is essential to enhance good quality as well as value-added concept.

COMPUTEX TAIPEI, thus, is also the platform for Taiwan suppliers to compete their new innovations and creativities before stepping into the global market too. Design & Innovation Award and Best Choice of COMPUTEX TAIPEI Award presented by the organizers and iF aims at encouraging precision design products.

Whether are the winners or candidates, most of the selected products tend to present the guideline of simple is good, fine line cut and fashion. User-friendly and easy-to-operate are also taken into account when considering seamlessly user experience.

For instance, SpinQ CPU Cooler by THERMALTAKE TECHNOLOGY, adopts spiral fins and two-way cold air intake utility tower design which both provides 360 degree heat dissipation and excellent user experience. Other products such as BONE ZOO USB flash drive by FRUITSHOP INTERNATIONAL and A-DATA octopus pouting mouth USB flash drive both equip with creative and lovely elements into product design process. These somehow charming ideas turn so-called stereotype cold technology into beautiful daily collection.

Furthermore, "real-time finger touch" and "interaction interface" have generally taken one place to drive future development. The newly launched MICROSOFT Windows 7 at COMPUTEX TAIPEI this year has gathered more than 60 hardware and software partners to transfer a number of outstanding operation features onto a variety of practical consumer products.

Real-time, interactive, graphic interface are keys for next generation communications. SHARP, who launched its new personalize notebook in Japan in April, is a great example. This new Mebius PC-NJ70Apro notebook equips an optical sensor LCD pad that supports normal mouse gesture, hand writing as well as some interactive small features such as calculator, dictionary and gaming. Its renewable touch pad wallpaper and replaceable cover case definitely attracts female users market.

Besides, US-based FUGOO, who also demonstrates its digital home entertainment box that combines Windows 7, VIA C7 CPU and Wi-Fi technology which easily networks with digital photo frame, coffee machine, music players and many more home appliances. This popular digital home entertainment box certainly pictures future lifestyle in various possible aspects.

The special guest speech of MICROSOFT Forum 2009 on 3 June, FUGOO Co-Chairman, John Hui, also briefly presented how FUGOO bring the idea of "Windows Makes Life Simpler" into daily life. Easy but efficient and entertaining communication experiences are keys to shape future life.

Being the most important platform in ICT industry, COMPUTEX TAIPEI has reached another record high with more than 4,498 booths to showcase at Hall 1 and Hall 3 of Taipei World Trade Center, Taipei International Convention Center as well as Nangang Exhibition Hall. With such a large exhibition scale, Taiwan further ensures its key role in the global ICT industry as well as its pioneering position in driving future ICT markets.

SI and brand monitor shipment growth weaker than expected in April

TAIPEI, TAIWAN: Following the notable inventory replenishments during 1Q09, it started to cool down a bit during Apr09. By also taking into account the continued monitor panel price increases, these developments should help further shed light on the extent of downstream vendors’ overbooking and the actual market demand.

Amid a possible slowdown in the sales momentum and no evident rebound in the global economy, suppliers continue to hold a conservative attitude for fear of seeing their inventory running too high again, as witnessed during 2H08.

Thus, the monthly SI shipment growth momentum was not as strong in Apr09. Instead, most SIs saw a small decrease over Mar09. According to WitsView’s survey, in Apr09 the aggregated shipments by the Top 10 SIs reached 12.9 million, up slightly by 2.7% MoM.

According to WitsView’s top 10 monitor brand survey, given the slower inventory replenishments in Apr09, the stock of the downstream retailers and brand vendors returned to healthier levels.

However, as the end market sales were not too strong, the shipment growth of the top 10 monitor brand vendors was weaker than expected, where they reached 10.5 million, slightly down by 0.8 percent MoM.

An interesting aspect in Apr09 was the varying shipments of the vendors, due to the different quarterly end. For the Taiwan and Korean players, such as Acer, BenQ and LGE, the figures were lower over Mar09. By contrast, as Apr09 was the quarterly end for Lenovo, it sought to more aggressively push up shipments.

Low-cost, lightweight netbooks reach new audience

LONDON, UK: According to the Strategy Analytics Wireless Enterprise Strategies (WES) service report, “Netbook Vendor Models and Specifications Database,” two-thirds of netbooks sell for less than $500, and over 50% of netbook owners use the Windows XP Home Edition operating system.

While Asus remains, by far, the best-represented vendor, there are also a significant number of models from MSI, Acer, Gigabyte, Everex and Samsung.

“Just under a quarter of netbooks run any form of Linux operating system. However, Windows XP Home remains the dominant operating system, commented Andrew Brown, Director of Wireless Enterprise Strategies and author of the report.

“Over 50 percent of netbooks have screens smaller than 10 inches. While all models ship with WiFi, very few are purchased with integrated cellular connectivity. Strategy Analytics expects this to change with the growth in mobile operators as a channel for netbooks with service contracts,” he added.

This new report covers a wide range of technical specifications including Vendor, Model, Operating System, CPU, Graphics, RAM, HDD, Flash Memory, Keyboard, Mouse, Bluetooth, WiFi, WWAN, Weight (ounces), Screen Size, Resolution, Battery Capacity, Battery Life, ASP $ Model (unsubsidized) and Price Band.