WELLINGTON: IDC says the first quarter of 2015 was rather tepid for the New Zealand PC market. Based on the research company’s Asia/Pacific Quarterly PC Tracker, shipments dropped to 186,600 units contributing to a quarter over quarter drop of 14.4%.
Last year, Microsoft pulled the plug on support for its aging Windows XP. Many old Windows XP PCs were incapable of running modern software leading hundreds of thousands of NZ homes and businesses to upgrade their computer. The forced-march upgrade temporarily reversed the trend of PC sales falling and tablets rising. In fact, it was a record year for PCs. But now the XP-fueled upgrade cycle seems to have played itself out.
“This sequential decline was experienced across both the desktop and notebook segments and was driven by a variety of factors,” IDC market analyst Arunachalam Muthiah said. “In the desktop category, XP migration in 2014 appears to have absorbed 2015 PC refreshes causing a slowdown. The weakened New Zealand dollar also had a negative impact.”
