SCCyberworld

Friday, December 9, 2011

Malaysia PC Market Slipped 25% Sequentially in 3Q 2011, reports IDC

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, December 7, 2011 -- According to the IDC Asia/Pacific PC Tracker, Malaysia’s PC market declined 25% sequentially and 16% year-on-year (YoY) to 684,000 units in 3Q 2011. The drop was expected as 3Q did not record any netbook shipments under the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) 1Million Netbooks program. However, 280,000 MCMC netbooks were shipped in 2Q 2011 and 123,000 in 3Q 2010, resulting in abnormally large PC shipments for those quarters.

Despite the inorganic decline, channel activity was still relatively healthy. According to Ng Juan Jin, Market Analyst for Client Devices Research at IDC ASEAN, "The market saw some channel expansion as distributors expressed more confidence and increased their shipments of new PC models. At the end user level, price drops further invigorated consumer spending, especially on higher-end skews with Core i5 processors where prices dropped to as low as RM1,799."

AMD had a standout quarter. Their PC shipments increased almost 20% sequentially. Juan Jin adds, "AMD caters largely to the low-end market and cut prices of its E series lineup by 10%. As a result, E-series installed PCs saw an increase of 26% from the previous quarter. This aggressive pricing strategy will likely cause a chain reaction and drive down the Average Selling Values (ASV) of Intel models in the coming quarters."

The commercial market was stagnant in 3Q 2011. Overall, public sector spending was sluggish as the government held off on committing to large scale projects such as the Customs Department and Ministry of Education deliveries seen in 2010. Small-Medium Enterprise (SMEs) spending also took a hit from the festive period which disrupted routine PC refreshment cycles. Several SME-centric models were pulled from the market which further contributed to the commercial notebook decline in this quarter.

Juan Jin continues, "IDC is expecting the 4Q 2011 PC market to suffer a decline. Recent channel feedback indicates that distributor inventory levels are still high while sellout is not encouraging on the retail front compared to the previous quarter. Vendors are not expecting significant gains from the PIKOM PC Fair which will be held in December either. Portables, especially networks, will also see a decline as several vendors have withdrawn from this highly unprofitable market.”

He adds, “The hard disk drive (HDD) shortage crisis from the Thailand floods will impact netbooks the most as supply priority is given to larger form factors which generate higher revenue for vendors."

For further information on the findings contained in this report, "IDC Asia/Pacific Quarterly PC Tracker 3Q 2011", please contact Juliana Lai at +603-2177-9255 or julianalai@idc.com.

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