The report concludes that the local PC market experienced another double digit growth in 2005.
Final quarter of the year was weaker than expected -- the overall PC market experienced a 2.9 percent decline in Q4 2005, compared with the same period during 2004 when the market experienced a 14.1 percent increase, however, all three form factors, server, desktop and notebook, experienced year-on-year growth.
Hannes Fourie, ICT analyst and author of the report, says that although performance in the PC market in 2005 showed little growth across the desktop form factor, the notebook and x86 server form factors made up for the flat but sustainable performance in the desktop market.
Notebooks continued to drive overall market growth, recording a robust 36.9 percent in 2005. Consumer demand was unabated, assisted by aggressive promotions in the retail channel, while portable adoption in the SMB space also continued at an accelerated pace.
Notebooks remained a major focus for all vendors across both consumer and business channels, and the attractive promotions clearly helped to boost demand.
"PC shipments totalled 1,293,892 units, reflecting year-on-year expansion of 10.9 percent. As result of falling prices, the PC market value only increased by 0.3 percent year-on-year to R9.36 billion [US$1.5 billion]," adds Fourie.
The desktop form factor recorded soft trends overall with a 9.8 percent year-on-year growth in Q4 2005 due to the shift towards portables and a slowing corporate refresh activity.
The x86 server market's growth rate declined from 50.9 percent in 2004 to 13.7 percent in 2005. This corresponds with the total server market, which came in at 13.8 percent year-on-year growth.
Government and education demand dwindled during the year due to the corporate refresh drawing to a close.
However, the home market made up for the poor performance in the other sectors with a 61.4 percent year-on-year growth.
The SME sector also experienced a positive double digit growth during the year.
Looking forward Fourie expects the consumer market to remain robust in 2006, 'price declines will continue to stimulate new purchases and renewals -- Microsoft Vista should also contribute to market growth in the second half of 2006, while notebook momentum will continue unabated in the SME and consumer markets and competition will not soften.'