Growth Is Still Expected Despite Macroeconomic Pressures in the Asia/Pacific PC Market in 2Q08

Singapore and Hong Kong, July 21, 2008 – IDC's preliminary results show that the Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) client PC market grew 8% sequentially and 15% year-on-year to nearly 19 million units in 2Q08. This was 4% lower than IDC’s previous forecasts, as many countries in the region came in softer than expected, including the key markets of India, Korea and Taiwan. Yet, nearly all countries continued to post year-on-year growth.”

The Asia/Pacific region’s PC market finally started to feel some of the pressure from the global economic situation this quarter, especially with inflation and fuel subsidy issues emerging in many countries in Asia,” said Bryan Ma, Director of Asia/Pacific Personal Systems Research at IDC. ”However, this doesn’t mean that the market is headed into a downward spiral.

Good economic growth is still expected in many of the large emerging countries in the region. So the current situation may be just a temporary setback before the market resumes its streak again at the end of the year.”While the Sichuan earthquake in China was already factored into IDC’s forecast last quarter, general economic factors still put pressure on the PC market there. Traffic control in Beijing in the run-up to the Olympics could also cramp supplies of PCs in the city next quarter, although IDC still expects a prompt recovery after that. Lenovo remained the top vendor in China as well as the APEJ region this quarter.

“Fortunately, Singapore’s client PC market came in close to forecasts, with still a good 24% year-on-year growth," said Reuben Tan, Senior Manager of Asia/Pacific Personal Systems Research at IDC.

“Government spending started to ramp up through the long awaited SOE, while several telco affinity deals, as well as polytechnic student purchasing programs, continued into the quarter. The PC Show in June further bolstered the country’s market, with affordable consumer notebooks stealing the limelight.”

Kathy Sin, Research Manager of Asia/Pacific Personal Systems Research at IDC, said, “Hong Kong's PC market was one of the few countries in the Asia/Pacific region to beat forecasts this quarter, in part because of all of the attention surrounding the emerging class of ultra-low-cost PCs. While the long-term sustainability of such a market has yet to be proven, for now it is helping to fuel what is already a very hot notebook market.“

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