Mobile PC shipments up over 40%

Global mobile PC shipments reached 49.4 million units in the first quarter of 2010, a year-on-year increase of over 40 per cent, according to Gartner.

The figures show that the 43.4 per cent rise from Q1 2009 is the highest the mobile PC market has seen in eight years, representing around $36 billion in end user spending.

Consumer purchases were the main growth driver, however, Gartner recorded an increase in uptake across the professional segment, which is expected to continue towards the end of the year and into 2011.

"Mini-notebook PCs were a big part of the bump in mobile PC shipments in the first quarter of 2010, with shipments growing 71 per cent over the same period last year," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "However, mini-notebooks’ share slowed in some regions as consumers begin to understand the limitations of mini-notebooks, especially in the face of aggressive price cuts of regular notebooks."

"The average selling price of mobile PCs was $732 in the first quarter of 2010, a 15.7 percent decline from the first quarter of 2009, when the ASP was $868," Ms. Kitagawa said. "The ASP for mobile PCs is expected to stabilize as sales into the professional market will grow, resulting in slightly higher ASPs compared to consumer mobile PCs."

HP continued to be the number one vendor in worldwide mobile PC shipments, accounting for 19.2 per cent of shipments in the first quarter of 2010.

Asus and Acer experienced the strongest growth rate among the top-tier vendors with shipment increases of 113 percent and 48.4 per cent respectively, which Gartner attributes to sales in the low-end consumer market.