Gartner results on Asia Pacific PC market reveal enormous potential and opportunities for PC vendors if the region continues on the path of stable economic growth in the coming quarters.
The Asia Pacific personal computer (PC) market experienced a strong growth in the third quarter of 2000, with unit shipments totaling 4.6 million units. This is an increase of 34 percent over the same period last year, according to preliminary results from Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner Group.
In Singapore, PC shipments to the Singapore market grew on a year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter basis by 9 percent and 14 percent, respectively, in the third quarter of 2000. PC shipment reached 139,370 units in the third quarter of 2000.
Corporate and government purchases of PCs were influenced by strong replacement rates which in turn, were affected by technological developments in processor speeds, operating systems and form factors. The array of affordable PCs, hire purchase schemes and free Internet access served as the impetus for PC purchases for home users.
The breakdown of market share by vendors in Singapore found IBM to occupy the first position with nearly 14 percent market share, as shown in Table 1. Hewlett-Packard and Compaq followed in the second and third position with 13 percent and 10 percent respectively.
Table 1
Singapore PC vendor unit shipment estimates for 3Q'00 (units)
| Company | 3Q'00 Market Share (%) | Q3'99 Market Share (%) |
| IBM | 13.8 | 6.1 |
| Hewlett-Packard | 13.2 | 12.6 |
| Compaq Computer | 10.3 | 13.3 |
| Dell Computer | 9.6 | 7.3 |
| Acer | 8.9 | 8.9 |
| Others | 44.2 | 51.9 |
| Singapore | 100 | 100 |
