Local PC sales fuelled by consumer demand

Total PC sales in Australia rose to 3.3 million units last year on the back of strong sales across the consumer market, according to new research from Gartner.

The analyst group's latest figures show that local PC shipments rose by 14.7 per cent between 2003 and 2004. While demand for PC product in the business and enterprise market had remained consistent, Gartner said a pickup in consumer product sales had seen the sector record double digit growth.

Gartner principal PC analyst, Andy Woo, said the mobile PC market had also achieved strong growth of 43.2 per cent.

"Driven by aggressive pricing and promotions, the mobile PC segment is clearly catching up with desktops as an alternative platform," he said.

However, he warned sales across both sectors would slow this year due to rising interest rates and a lull in the enterprise replacement cycle.

Overall, HP held onto the largest share of the market at 16.6 per cent, while Dell retained 12 per cent. Acer, IBM and Toshiba rounded out the top five players for 2004. Acer attained the biggest growth, increasing its sales by 62.3 per cent.