PC monitor market in decline

Things aren't looking up for the Australian PC Monitor market as IDC releases its latest results for the fourth quarter of 2005.

IDC revealed the Australian PC monitor market declined four percent sequentially and increased two percent on the same period in 2004. Both the OEM and branded markets declined sequentially, with the former declining four percent and the latter falling three percent from the third quarter.

The results found the sale of PC-monitors declined as LCDs continued to be bundled with PC systems, causing fewer upgrades. IDC said the trend was expected to continue over the forecast period and will slow down the growth of the market.

IDC also stated there was a strong drop in technological advancements. However, no major technological improvements for monitors had developed since the advent and then commercialisation of LCD monitors.

Mercie Clement, IDC market analyst for PC hardware believed end users did not have a compelling reason to refresh their monitors and LCD technology itself inadvertently lengthened the refresh cycle.

“While several vendors have pumped many R&D dollars into areas such as OLED, LED and SED, these units are not expected to reach commercialisation any time soon, as limited lifespan and high costs continue to be major inhibitors,” said Clement.

In the vendor rankings, Samsung climbed up to the top spot in the branded market with 20.7 per cent share. Behind it, LG Electronics picked up 15.9 percent and Acer 15.1

BenQ fell to the fourth spot, accounting for 14.3 percent share of total branded shipments during the quarter. Rounding out the top seven was Mitsubishi with 8.3 percent, Philips with 8.2 percent and Viewsonic with 7.2 percent. Other branded vendors rounded out the list with 10.3 per cent.