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Apple gains as PC shipments tumble in Europe

Apple made modest gains in the Western Europe PC market in the second quarter of 2011, while the other vendors in the top five saw declines.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers

Market researcher Gartner said the PC market in Western Europe declined 19 percent in the second quarter of 2011, but Apple was the only top five vendor to show growth.

PC shipments in Western Europe came to 12.7 million units in the second quarter of 2011, down 18.9 percent from the same period in 2010, according to research note from Gartner today. Meanwhile, Apple managed to eke out a modest 0.5 percent growth, Gartner said.

"The PC market in Western Europe suffered from weak demand in both the professional and consumer sectors, a market which also faced inventory issues caused by overstocking in 2010," Meike Escherich, principal analyst at Gartner, said in a statement. The mobile PC market saw a sharp decline of 20.4 percent decline, as mini-notebook (aka Netbook) shipments fell 53 percent.

Apple eked out 0.5 percent growth in Western Europe, a considerable feat considering the steep declines among other large PC vendors like Acer and Dell.
Apple eked out 0.5 percent growth in Western Europe, a considerable feat considering the steep declines among other large PC vendors. Gartner

In the U.K. market, Apple and Samsung were the only vendors in the top five to post single-digit growth. And in France, Apple was the only top-five vendor to exhibit shipment growth, Gartner said.

In Germany, Apple's presence was felt indirectly. "Given the hype around media tablets such as the iPad, retailers were very conservative in placing orders for PCs," said Escherich. "Instead, many of them wanted to secure space for media tablets."