Gartner reports Q2 2011 W. European PC shipments total 12.7M-- with a -18.9% Y-o-Y decline, down from Q2 2010 shipments totals of 15.6M.
Both consumer and professional sector suffer from weak demand as the market faces inventory issues, thanks to overstocking back in 2010.
Netbooks see a -53% Y-o-Y decrease in shipments as the entire mobile PC market declines by 20.4%, while desktop PC shipments decline by -15.4% Y-o-Y.
The above reflects the consumer PC market in general, whose Q2 2011 sees the market's biggest decline-- -27% Y-o-Y.
Softening the negative economic outlook is the professional segment's migration to Windows 7-- professional PC shipments decline by only -9%.
According to Gartner these results not only point out the consumer segment's ongoing lack of demand, but also a possible structural change within the market-- one to potentially continue in the near future.
Q2 2011 sees Acer losing its position on top of the market, thanks to significant inventory adjustments and decreasing notebook sales. Acer shipments decline by a total of -44.6% Y-o-Y.
HP takes its place, with a 25.1% share of the W. European PC market. Following is Dell, with declines of -12.7% and 10.8% market share.
All vendors share 2 factors in common, as mentioned earlier-- declining consumer demand and falling notebook shipments. However, one has to keep in mind Gartner does not count tablets in its shipment totals.
