IDC: Server Market Shows Glimmer of Hope

Evidence of market saturation in the U.S. can be seen in new research from IDC that takes a look at the global connected device market. Shipments and revenues declined here, even as worldwide market share grew. The connected device market, meaning smartphones, tablets, and PCs combined, grew 27.4% year-over-year in Q2 2012, IDC says. There was also a slight bump of 2.8% growth from Q1 to Q2.

The current worldwide outlook for sales of PCs look bright, with an exceptional fourth quarter last year followed by year-on-year growth in shipments of 27.1 percent in the first quarter of this year, and forecasts by IDC of further recovery in the market after the global economic downturn.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, factory revenue in the worldwide hosting server market increased 3.1% year over year to $14.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012 (4Q12). This was the first quarterly increase of factory revenue in five quarters.

According to IDC’s latest report on smart device shipments, we’re in for a record-breaking holiday season.

Gartner says that worldwide server shipments in the third quarter of 2010 grew 14.2 percent year over year, while revenue moved upward 15.3 percent year over year. This is in stark contrast to their PC shipment forecast.

Apple’s lead in the tablet market took its first serious dent in Q3, according to estimates from analyst IDC, based on tablet shipments (rather than sales).

The Asia Pacific server market remained healthy throughout the second quarter of 2011, with year-on-year shipment growth of 25.6 percent and revenue up 26.1 percent compared to the same quarter last year. APAC had the strongest increase in server shipments, with the focus firmly on the Chinese market.

Worldwide shipments of PCs dropped towards the end of last year as consumer demand slowed. Ultrabooks, introduced to the market in the holiday season, didn’t attract consumers, and the overall decline in PC shipments for the fourth quarter of 2011 was 1.4 percent.

Written by: Peter Dinham | Published in: MarketNervousness about worldwide economies has dampened global PC shipments and drastically affected sales in many countries in the Asia Pacific region, including Australia with a sales decline close to 10 percent, and in China, which experienced its first ever year-on-year negative growth.