Worst over for Australian PC market

The PC market in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, showed encouraging growth from the third quarter to the fourth quarter of 2001, indicating that the worst may be over for the region's markets, according to IDC.

This is the second quarter PC shipments have grown, with figures declining significantly in the first half of 2001, said Manny Lopez, Hong Kong-based market analyst for personal systems research at IDC Asia-Pacific. However, it may be premature to expect full PC market recovery in the region, he said.

PC shipments grew 2% year on year IDC said. Markets that did well in the fourth quarter include Australia and Taiwan, both growing 10%, with Korea showing high seasonal growth with 23% increase in PC sales, quarter-on-quarter, said Lopez.

According to IDC, Dell Computer had the highest growth among PC vendors, with a 21% increase in sales. Compaq grew 9%.