PC death knell continues to sound in Western Europe

There's more bad news for the PC market, with a year-on-year shipment decline of 4.4 per cent in the fourth quarter in Western Europe, according to new figures released by Gartner.

No part of the PC market was immune to the fourth quarter fall. Mobile PC shipments were down 6.5 per cent, while desktop PC shipments fell 0.3 per cent. PC shipments in the professional market dropped 1.7 per cent, while the consumer market took a worse hit of 7 per cent.

Despite the figures, Gartner believes that tablets are having less of an impact than before.

"Shipments for traditional PCs (desktops and mobile PCs) in 2013 decreased 14 percent, but the rate of unit decline is moderate across geographies — which could indicate that the impact of tablets cannibalizing PC sales in mature markets is fading," said Meike Escherich, principal research analyst at Gartner.

"Additionally, large numbers of professional PCs running on Windows XP remained in use, and the corporate market has been increasing its PC replacement — making up for a weak consumer PC market."

Top of the charts

HP remained top dog in the Western European PC market, despite a slight drop in shipments in the fourth quarter. It shipped 3.24 million units, compared to 3.29 a year before, a decline of 1.8 per cent. However, it enjoyed a small increase in market share, up from 21.5 per cent to 22.1 per cent, firmly ahead of its competitors.

Lenovo was in second place, shipping 1.95 million units, an 11.8 per cent increase over the 1.74 million it shipped in 2013. Its market share also grew from 11.4 per cent to 13.3 per cent.

Acer came in not far behind with 1.8 million shipments, up 2.4 per cent from the 1.75 million it shifted last year. Its market share also increased from 11.4 per cent to 12.2 per cent.

Asus took the biggest hit, but still managed to take fourth place. Its shipments fell 15.6 per cent, from 1.72 million to 1.45 million. Its market share dropped as a result, down from 11.2 per cent to 9.9 per cent.

Apple enjoyed the largest growth of a whopping 29.5 per cent, with shipments up from 1 million to 1.3 million. Its market share rose from 6.5 per cent to 8.9 per cent. The iPhone maker has traditionally performed well in the pre-Christmas shopping period.

In the UK alone, the scene is similar, with HP and Lenovo in first and second, and Apple in fifth. Acer and Asus are replaced by Dell and Toshiba, however. 2.9 million PCs were shipped in the UK in the fourth quarter, a drop of 6.7 per cent from the year before.

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First Great Western details free onboard Wi-Fi plan

Free Wi-Fi will be rolled out across the First Great Western fleet of trains next year. Nomad Digital has concluded an agreement with the train company that will see free internet access across all of the operator's lines in 2014 as well as on overnight services.

Wireless internet connectivity will be installed on all 53 of First Great Western's high-speed trains and Night Riviera services. This will be done as part of the company's new 23-month franchise.

The company first pledged to add the free Wi-Fi service in October this year. Work on fitting their fleet of trains will begin in May 2014, with the rollout set to be completed by the end of the same year. Passengers on the two daily Night Riviera services will also be able to access free Wi-Fi from June 2014.

Well received

Mark Hopwood, managing director of First Great Western, explained that the company had trialled the service on a fleet of trains serving the North Cotswolds. The proposition had been "very well received" by customers.

Customers on the train service will only need to have the ability to connect from their laptops or mobile devices to use the feature, regardless of their location in the train compartments. Any browser opened by them will automatically redirect them to the access page.

"I'm delighted to say that within the next year all high-speed and sleeper fleet customers will be able to read their emails, browse the web or simply catch up with friends on the move," he added.

Nomad Digital has seen vast increases in demand for Wi-Fi and other wireless connected services on trains worldwide over the past year. Andrew Taylor, Nomad's CEO, said that the company was "proud to be providing the technology as well as playing a central part in such a valuable service."

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