The worldwide PC industry had a weak closing in the last quarter of 2008 as worldwide shipments totaled 78.1 million units, a mere 1.1% increase from the fourth quarter of 2007, and its worst growth rate since 2002 according to preliminary results from IT market research firm Gartner.

“The United States experienced steeper than expected shipment declines due to the recession. The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region was also affected by the economic slowdown across key countries,” said Mika Kitagawa, principal analyst for Gartner’s Client Computing Markets group.

The Asia Pacific recorded the worst shipment growth since Gartner started its PC statistics research, up 1.8% to 19.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2008. The China and India PC markets accounted for approximately 65% of the Asia Pacific market in the fourth quarter, and these countries were impacted by a slow consumer market. PC shipments in China grew an estimated 0.8% and 2.2% in India.

Overall, the growth driver for the 2008 holiday PC season was the mini-notebook segment. With more vendors offering creative sales promotions, the mini-notebook segment outpaced overall mobile PC growth. However, PC revenue experienced a record decline. Steep average selling price (ASP) declines, as well as robust growth of low-priced systems, including mini-notebooks, contributed to this drop.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) managed to grow above the worldwide average in the fourth quarter of 2008, however its year-on-year growth was its lowest since its merger with Compaq in 2003. HP did well in EMEA by aggressively promoting the mini-notebook segment, but it was impacted by sales in the US market.

Dell showed strong growth in Asia Pacific, but it struggled to increase shipment volume in North America and EMEA in the fourth quarter of 2008. Acer continued to show exceptional growth with worldwide PC shipments growing 31.1% in the fourth quarter of 2008. Acer’s sales were driven by low priced PCs such as mini-notebooks. Lenovo maintained the fourth position in the worldwide market in the fourth quarter, but it suffered a shipment decline for the first time since 2006. Source – Gartner