Windows 8.1 helps PC market beat expectations in Q3 2013

The PC market was buoyed by the intake of Windows 8.1 systems in September and other business purchases, helping to slow the sales decline in Q3 2013, say analysts.
IDC reports that worldwide PC shipments totaled 81.6 million units during the quarter, with the market contracting 7.6 per cet ahead rather than the projected decline of 9.5 per cent.
Lenovo (17.3 per cent market share), HP (17.1 per cent), Dell (11.7 per cent), Acer (6.7 per cent) and ASUS (5.2 per cent) had the most shipments during the quarter, with Lenovo in the number one spot and ASUS at number five.
In EMEA specifically, the PC market contracted in the third quarter in line with IDC forecasts. The analysts said that PC shipments "remained constrained in the home segment, which continued to suffer from weak consumer demand amid an ongoing budget shift to tablets".
IDC also said the quarter was affected by an "unfavourable" year-on-year comparison with the strong Q3 2012 period around the launch of Windows 8.
IDC added that laptops shipments in Q3 2013 suffered a strong decline, while desktops were less affected.
"As forecast, the commercial market was less negative than the consumer market due to pockets of investments remaining available despite constrained spending," added IDC in a statement.
"[In the worldwide market] the third quarter was pretty close to forecast, which unfortunately doesn’t reflect much improvement in the PC market, or potential for near-term growth," said Loren Loverde, Vice President Worldwide PC Trackers at IDC.
"Whether constrained by a weak economy or being selective in their tech investments, buyers continue to evaluate options and delay PC replacements. Despite being a little ahead of forecast, and the work that's being done on new designs and integration of features like touch, the third quarter results suggest that there's still a high probability that we will see another decline in worldwide shipments in 2014."

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