Vietnam ’s PC market grew by 20.5 percent sequentially and 304
percent year-on-year to reach 68,000 units in the fourth quarter of
2012, according to the latest International Data Corporation (IDC)
Asia-Pacific Quarterly PC Tracker report.

In the fourth quarter,
the consumer segment was flooded with stocks as some vendors tried to
meet their year-end targets and avoid the Lunar New Year period.

As the consumer PC market continues to face pressure from tablets and
smart phones in 2013, there is an urgent need for new PC modern volume
in the market, the report says.

“In 2013, the price of Ultra Slim
models will need to decrease further in order to compete with
attractively priced tables and smart phones,” said Phan Yen, market
analyst for client devices at IDC Vietnam.

Despite seasonal
purchasing from the education segment and unexpected public sector
project fulfillments, the overall fourth quarter commercial segment
remained weak. This was due to persistent uncertainty in the local
economy.

Daniel Pang, ASEAN research manager for client devices
at IDC Asia/Pacific, said: “ Vietnam ’s on going credit crunch has
left most small and medium-sized businesses and even large enterprises
with financial difficulties which could impact IT spending in 2013.”

ASUS retained its lead in the market with a 17.8 percent market share,
reinforced by strong channel support and aggressive end user
promotions, while Dell kept the second position with 15 percent as it
pushed more shipments into both consumer and commercial channels through
good channel management.

Acer was third with 10.2 percent, while HP fell one position to fourth with 9.1 percent.
Although HP maintained its good performance in the commercial space,
it continued to suffer from other aggressive price completion in the
consumer spare.

Lenovo remained in fifth position, with 6.2
percent of market share, after bringing in more low-cost consumer
notebooks to meet current market demands.

Meanwhile, the printer
and multifunction peripherals (MFP) market continued to grow, gaining
32.2 percent compared with the previous quarter.

The growth
mainly came from the strength of laser technology shipments, which
increased by 45 percent quarter on quarter (QoQ).

Total laser
technology shipments accounted for 77 percent of the total market in
Vietnam , while inkjet products reached 23 percent and grew only by 2
percent compared to the quarter before.

Driving factors in this
quarter included the increased purchasing power from various government
administrative units, the banking sector and the procurement of
equipment of various industries during the year end.

The laser
printer market in the fourth quarter was generally very positive.
Shipments of MFP increased by 54 percent quarterly while the printer
shipments grew by 43 percent QoQ.

Dramatic price reduction was the main reason that led to the strong growth of MFPs.-VNA