The credit crisis came home to roost for the global PC market in the fourth quarter of 2008, ending a sustained period when sales seemed to defy economic gravity, according to iSuppli.

"Although consumers around the world started to feel the full impact of the credit crisis in the third quarter of 2008, this phenomenon didn't negatively impact PC sales," observed Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for compute platforms at iSuppli.

"However, by the fourth quarter, even the PC market succumbed to economic reality, with shipments declining by 1.5% compared to the third quarter."

Global PC shipments amounted to 77.9 million units in the fourth quarter of 2008, down from 79.1 million in the third quarter.

"The impact of the credit crunch is clearly apparent in the PC shipments, given that the historical average for sequential fourth-quarter PC growth is in the region of 10%," Wilkins added. "The sequential decline in shipments is a factor of the limited availability of credit, for both businesses and consumers. As a result, the money that is available must be used sparingly, leaving less for PC purchases."

Despite the lower-than-expected performance of the PC market in the fourth quarter, full-year 2008 shipments yielded impressive growth of 11.6%, reaching 299.4 million units, up from 268.4 million in 2007. This compares to 12.4% growth in 2007.

The strong rise in 2008 PC shipments was entirely generated by strong demand for notebooks. Notebook PC unit shipments rose by 35% in 2008, up from 30% in 2007, said iSuppli.

Meanwhile, desktop PC shipments declined by 4% in 2008, compared to 3% growth in 2007.

"In the PC market, mobility is king," Wilkins said. "This is because the prices, features, performance, and convenience of mobile PCs are striking a chord with both consumer and business users. The results in 2008 illustrate what is likely to happen for years to come – declining sales of desktops and rising volume for notebooks."

Global notebook PC shipments exceeded those of desktops on a quarterly basis for the first time ever in the third quarter of 2008, marking a watershed event in the history of the industry.

The trend continued in the fourth quarter, with notebook shipments exceeding those of desktops by 3%.

However, for the entire year of 2008, desktop shipments exceeded those of notebooks by 9%.

Due to the rapidly changing market conditions, iSuppli has revised its full year 2009 unit growth forecast to 0.7%, down from 4.3% before.

"iSuppli expects an acceleration of the decline in the desktop segment in 2009, along with a reduction of the growth rate in the notebook segment, leading to weak growth for the year," Wilkins said.

The rankings of the top-five PC makers remained the same in the fourth quarter compared to the third.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) retained its number-one ranking in the fourth quarter of 2008, with shipments of 14.5 million, and a market share of 18.6%. Dell maintained its second-place ranking with shipments of 10.3 million, giving the company a market share of 13.2%. Rounding out the top-three was Acer, with a market share of 11.8% resulting from shipments of 9.2 million units during the quarter. The other top-five PC OEMs were Lenovo and Toshiba, ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, with market shares of 7.1% and 4.7%.

For the full-year 2008, Acer achieved growth well in excess of the overall industry, at 57.9%, while the number-one and number-two ranked PC OEMs – HP and Dell – experienced growth in line with the overall industry, at 12.9% and 9.5%, respectively.

Outside the top-10, Asustek Computer and Apple both made notable advances in 2008, with Asustek expanding its shipments by 145%, and Apple by 30%.

"Asustek played a crucial role in expanding the fast-growing netbook segment, clearly boosting the company's performance," Wilkins said. "Apple benefited from the boom in consumer PC shipments in 2008."

Source: iSuppli, compiled by Digitimes, March 2009

Source: iSuppli, compiled by Digitimes, March 2009