Upbeat in a down market

[rpm]

Upbeat in a down market

LOCAL COMPUTER Vendors Sahara and Mustek (MST) have strategies in place to ensure South African sales buck the global downtrend. International IT research and consulting agency Gartner recently published analysis of last year's computer sales figures, reporting carnage for most vendors but with odd exceptions, such as Acer and Toshiba, which showed positive growth. International vendor Dell has also conducted its own research into the dynamics governing this market.

 

[PeterCH]

Gartner says the growth driver for the 2008 Christmas PC sales season was the mini-notebook - "netbook" - segment. With more vendors offering creative sales promotions, the mini-notebook segment outpaced overall mobile PC growth.

So sales of ultra-cheap, lean notebooks are up while sales of fully loaded desktops and laptops are down. Seems rather obvious, except for the fact that the recession isn't as bad yet - that it's slowing all sales, right now we're saying cheap, high mileage vehicle sales outpace the sales of expensive, SUVs and sportscars.