PC market shrinks in Asia for the first time: IDC

"Initiatives such as Ultrabooks and Windows 8 haven't reinvigorated the PC market as much as the industry had hoped," said Avinash K. Sundaram, senior analyst for client devices research at IDC. "In light of this softness, IDC expects growth to remain muted in the upcoming years. However, we also must not forget that this is still a more than US$60 billion market in the Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) region alone."

According to IDC's report, ongoing weakness in the global economy, coupled with a preference in the region's mature markets for smartphones and tablets, served to hurt PC shipments. In the fourth quarter specifically, the market came in 4 per cent below IDC's initial forecasts, with a 5 per cent year-on-year decline. The market researcher cited clearing out of existing Windows 7 inventory before bringing in new Windows 8 stocks.

Furthermore, all brands except for Lenovo (which grew 11 per cent) and Asus (18 per cent) fell in terms of sales last year.

Lenovo led the market with a market share of 24.6 per cent thanks to its success in expanding the brand beyond China, including posting strong growth in India, observed IDC. 

Asus, while ranking only fifth in the region, managed to grow its market share from 6.2 per cent in 2011 to 7.5 per cent in 2012 on the back of an 18 per cent growth in unit sales. This came thanks to its strategy of targeting lower-tier cities in emerging markets with entry-level units, said the report. 

While Acer remained second in the region, its market share shrank from 11 per cent in 2011 to 10 per cent in 2012 due to an 11 per cent drop in unit sales. 

HP and Dell dropped 8 per cent and 15 per cent in sales, respectively. "Internal re-organisation activities kept HP busy for much of the year, though its recent efforts at regaining partner confidence helped the vendor arrest some of the decline," IDC commented. "Dell, meanwhile, made a strategic choice to shift its focus towards higher valued products."