Taiwanese PC maker, Acer, grabbed the leading share of the consumer notebook market space in Australia for the second quarter of 2005, as the market literally exploded due to new sub $1000 prices.

Research group IDC has recently released the preliminary results for the 2Q 2005 Portable PC market, showing a solid increase of 25% sequentially and a rise of 53% compared to the same period in 2004.

IDC key highlights of the 2Q 2005 Portable PC market were :

1) Sub $1,000 Consumer Market Explodes: The introduction of the $999 price point in mid to late May caused the consumer notebook market to be unseasonably strong. IDC found the consumer space grew by 65% from last quarter and 116% from 2Q 2004. The activity in the sub $1,000 dollar market was primarily driven by Acer and HP through BigW, Harvey Norman and OfficeWorks.

2) Whitebook is Still Being Restricted: The competition in the local market is still extremely competitive and bordering on saturation. The whitebook market is growing, but not at the same pace as the Multi National Corporation vendors.

3) New Vendors are Finding Their Footing/Others Floundering: Asus, BenQ and Panasonic are three vendors that seem to be on their way or either fully aware of their place within the market. On the flip side, Fujitsu and Samsung both managed to decline from last quarter despite a massive growth in the overall market.

Michael Sager, senior analyst, PC Hardware said, "Acer made by far the largest leap forward, gaining 6.5% in terms of market share from the first quarter. Not only did they have a very successful sell in of their $999 consumer notebooks, but IDC also saw strong growth in their commercial business. HP was very close to taking the top spot in the notebook PC market. IDC also noted very strong growth from their consumer notebook business and growth on the commercial side."

"Toshiba remained solidly in third place as it had a strong performance across the board and continued to have a good showing in its high end Qosmio range. With Acer rising out of fourth position, Dell fell into the vacated position despite a significant tender win and strong promotions and cash off bundles in their consumer range. The new Lenovo is holding its own in the notebook PC market and finished in fifth position. Rounding out the top 7 were Apple and Asus, who both had positive showing in the quarter," stated Sager.

Vendor Share:
Acer 20.3%
HP 20.3%
Toshiba 15.9%
Dell 14.7%
Lenovo 7.6%
Apple 4.4%
Asus 2.5%
Others 14.3%

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