Global notebook PC shipments exceeded those of desktops on a quarterly basis for the first time ever in the third quarter, marking a watershed event in the history of the industry, according to iSuppli Corp.
Notebook PC shipments rose almost 40 percent in the third quarter of 2008 compared to the same period of 2007 to reach 38.6 million units. Conversely, desktop PC shipments declined by 1.3 percent for the same period to 38.5 million units.
##CONTINUE##"Momentum has been building in the notebook market for some time, so it's not a complete surprise that shipments have surpassed those of desktops," said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for compute platforms at iSuppli. "However, this marks a major event in the PC market because it marks the start of the age of the notebook. The notebook PC is no longer a tool only for the business market, or a computer for the well-off consumer; it's now a computer for everyman."
A quarter to remember
The notebook's ascension to PC supremacy came during a strong quarter for the overall market. "While the third quarter will be remembered as the time when the scale of the global economic/credit crunch truly became apparent, the PC market managed to deliver strong unit shipment growth during the period," Wilkins noted.
Worldwide PC unit shipments rose 15.4 percent on the third quarter of 2007, with 79 million units shipped. Overall third-quarter PC shipments exceeded iSuppli's prior expectations of 12 percent year-over-year growth for the third quarter.
Business as usual at the top
There were no changes to the Top-5 PC OEM listings and rankings for the third quarter of 2008, according to iSuppli.
Hewlett-Packard retained its No.-1 ranking position in the third quarter of 2008, with shipments of 14.9 million units, and a market share of 18.8 percent. Fellow U.S. PC maker Dell maintained its second-place ranking with shipments of slightly less than 11 million units, giving the company a market share of 13.9 percent. No. 3 was Acer, with a market share of 12.2 percent resulting from shipments of 9.7 million during the quarter. Rounding out the Top-5 PC OEM rankings were Lenovo and Toshiba, ranked fourth and fifth, with market shares of 7.5 and 4.6 percent, respectively.
Acer goes into overdrive
"Acer shipped almost 3 million more notebooks in the third quarter than it did in the preceding quarter, with the majority of those 3 million being the company's netbook products," Wilkins said. "Clearly, the company's netbook strategy is paying dividends, with Acer now trailing Dell by less than 2 percentage points of market share for all PCs."
Solid PC performance
iSuppli was encouraged by overall third-quarter PC shipments, which exceeded our prior expectations of 12 percent year-over-year growth for the third quarter. Desktop PC shipment levels declined by 1.3 percent compared to the same period in 2007, while notebook shipments were up almost 40 percent. Looking outside of the Top-5 OEMs, Apple lost almost half a point of market share on a sequential basis at 3.2 percent, placing it seventh overall in total PC shipments. ASUSTeK reported a great performance with its notebook shipments, surpassing Lenovo to become the fifth-largest notebook PC OEM while retaining its position overall as the sixth-ranked PC OEM in terms of total PC shipments.
From this information an article in gizmag has predicted that the notebook, now indicated as the primary computing device, will hold the baton for a few years before its constituent sub-set of netbooks dominates the market. According to gizmag, 10 million netbooks sold in 2008, more than doubling last year's sales which accounted for 500,000.
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BY Cloud Computing News Desk
Source：SYS-CON MEDIA
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