Top PC vendors lose share

In a subdued India PC market, Hewlett-Packard (HP) held the largest share,

HCL Infosystems grew and Dell saw a decline in its share during Q1 2009

(January—March 2009), according to IDC India's latest study.

HP maintained its lead and gained share in PCs (desktops and notebooks) to

capture 18.2 percent of the India PC market in terms of unit shipments. HCL

Infosystems with a marketshare of 9.8 percent of overall PC shipments regained

the second spot. Dell, which jumped to second position for the first time in the

October to December 2008 quarter, slipped back to the third spot in Q1 2009.

While Acer's marketshare dipped marginally (7.7 percent in Q4 2008 to 7.3

percent in Q1 2009), Lenovo's share showed a more pronounced drop of 1.9 points

(6.6 percent in Q4 2008 to 4.7 percent in Q1 2009), revealed the IDC India

study.

“Moving forward, hardware in general and PC shipments in particular will

continue to remain under pressure. Winners would gain marketshare and improve

profitability through the right price/volume mix and optimal exploitation of

supply chain efficiencies,” stated Kapil Dev Singh, Country Manager, IDC India.

“With the twin forces of market de-growth and loss of share, those vendors

who do not occupy a clear niche in customers' minds would be under pressure,” he

added.

In the short term, over the next two quarters, vendor positions in the India

PC market would be largely determined by how well they are able to exploit the

opportunities presented by the consumer, education and government segments, the

IDC India report added.

The India PC market witnessed a seven percent QoQ growth in shipments in Q1

2009 over Q4 2008, according to IDC's Asia-Pacific Quarterly PC Tracker, May

2009 release.