Western European PC market declines 0.3% in Q3

Web hosting users have learned that the western European PC market saw a decline of 0.3 per cent in the third quarter, compared with the same period in 2008.

Despite this, the third quarter showed a return to seasonal growth patterns with a sequential rise of 30 per cent.

PC shipments in the UK reached 3.3 million units in the period, a drop of 2.4 per cent.

Mini-notebooks were the main driver behind growth in the consumer market, with companies such as Acer and Samsung taking advantage of the devices’ popularity.

"The western European PC market saw varied results across Europe with two of the largest markets, Germany and France, showing growth, and smaller markets like Spain and Northern Europe exhibiting a decline," explained Ranjit Atwal, principal analyst at Gartner, based in the UK.

Earlier this month, Gartner projected that global vertical market IT spending will reach $2.28 trillion (£1.38 trillion) in 2009, a 6.8 per cent decline from 2008.

Written by Sarah Woolf.