Apple chortles since PC market melts down in U.K., France

Apple chortles since PC market melts down in U.K., France Traditional PCs are usually nexus 4 bumper in crisis in the U.K. and France--and Apple andtablets are buying the slack.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, shipments during the U.K. PC market fell to 2.9 million units, a decline of 19.6 percent in contrast to a matching period truly (see table below). PCs run the Microsoft Windows operating system.

That marked the fifth consecutive quarterly shipment decline, additionally, the worst decline in five quarters, Gartner said. For the complete year, the U.K. market declined 15.9 percent, shrinking by nearly 2 million units from 2010.

France nexus 4 bumper case isn't faring more advantageous. PC shipments there totaled 2.8 million units in the fourth quarter, falling 11.8 percent compared to a year earlier. For the entire year, PC shipments totaled 10.4 million units, a 12 % decline from 2010.

Related storiesPC makers falling further behind Apple, says CanalysApple iPad breaks HP's grip on top PC spot

Pretty dismal, right? Well, not for anybody. "Only Apple achieved growth [while] four of your top 5 [PC] vendors performed poorly," said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, talking about the U.K. market, where Apple posted a small increase more than 17 % in comparison to the same period approximately.

Atwal added the U.K. PC market was going through, among other things, the growing public attention towards smartphones, media tablets and e-readers. That's significant since means more and more U.K. rrndividuals are opting to find smaller handheld devices in preference to PCs.

And this echoes a study by Canalys damaging Apple is actually no. 1 PC vendor in the realm considering consistently strong sales of theiPad--which Canalys categorizes being PC.

HP and Dell were down by 27 percent and 32.2 percent, respectively within the U.K. Acer declined along with a whopping 62.4 percent.

And in France, Apple was up, too. The actual traditional PC player to learn increase in France was Asus, Gartner said.

As at the U.K., tablets are taking share of the market. "Consumers spent their funds on other devices, which include media tablets and smartphones," said Isabelle Durand, principal analyst at Gartner.

Is slideshow sign of what things to also come in the Wholesale nexus 4 case U.S. together with other regions? "PC vendors face a, uphill battle to regain the interest of customers. Enhancing ultrabooks at the end of 2011 is much needed," said Mr. Atwal. Ultrabooks are thin, lightweight Windows laptops that play competitively with theMacBook Air.

Maybe the only real bright area for PC vendors was Germany. Lenovo did well there to its getting Medion. And Dell was in the summertime top-five vendor to go up its shipments, as a result of lower reliance upon a person business, as reported by Gartner.