GfK says consumer IT is holding up demand in 2008 when traditional IT vectors seem to have disappeared.
While consumer notebook units were up 33% in W. Europe, the biggest shift is in “desktop replacements”, i.e., those large screen notebooks. The trend to micro notebooks below 11” (while impressive at +90%) is still marginal within the product mix.
Market demand is more sophisticated than anticipated and will continue to astonish (as did the trend towards larger monitors on the “desktop”). Not only will this help sustain the market, but it highlights the potential for AiOs and home servers, once a proper positioning has been found.
In W. Europe, the price of notebook lost 200 euros vs last year (example: in week 31: 621 euros incl. VAT (when excluding any notebooks below 11”) against 819 euros in 2007 and 915 in 2006.
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