economy - PC market grows, Dell drops

China's PC market grew 10.8 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2005 in terms of shipments, Beijing-based research firm Analysys reports. Sales went up from 18.5 billion Renminbi 2.3 billion USD) over the third quarter of 2004 to 20.3 billion Renminbi (2.5 billion USD) in the third quarter of 2005, indicating a declining profitability.
Half of the market is business related, as home users keep on prefering DIY-computers. Lenovo is market leader with 32.4 percent while Dell, the largest foreign PC-producer in China, dropped to 7.5 percent as the market moved to smaller cities and SME's, where domestic producers are stronger.