Growing consumer demand in the Gulf countries is expected to propel year-on-year PC shipments by more than 17 per cent in the second quarter of this year. The total number of computers to be shipped in the second quarter is expected to be 1.73 million units compared to 1.48 million units in the second quarter of last year. Once again, the market’s expansion will be driven by strong demand for notebooks. The market value is expected to be $1.18 billion in the second quarter compared to $1.08 billion during the same period last year. “Most parts of the region saw vendors becoming very aggressive, not only in terms of pricing, but also by offering better marketing support and reward programmes to channels and resellers,” Fouad Charakla, research manager at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey, told Gulf News in an exclusive interview. Average selling price of desktops in the first quarter of 2012 was $701 while the same for notebooks was $670. In the second quarter, desktops are expected to grow by 11.5 per cent year on year while notebooks could rise by 18 per cent. Added to that, he said the absence of any more hard disk drive shortages eliminated any supply constraints in the market. “We saw a greater shift towards entry-level models on notebooks. Distributors are also losing further margins as competition continues to tighten,” he said. “As users move towards an integrated structure and mode of communication we find that customers in the region are demanding more from their laptops and desktops,” Jack Lee, Corporate Vice-President of Lenovo Group and General Manager for Lenovo Middle East and Africa, said. “Spending power among most of the Gulf countries is healthy,” he said. “Captive demand in UAE remained a bit slow, however, notebook re-exports from UAE to other countries continued to grow healthily.” Mini-notebook share out of overall notebooks in the first quarter in the Gulf stood at 8.1 per cent. The average selling price of mini-notebooks for first quarter of 2012 was $367. IDC has revised its outlook for the year. Total shipments for 2012 are expected to be more than seven million compared to 6.1 million units in 2011. Looking forward, Lee said: “We believe the Ultrabook series and All-In-One desktops will be hugely popular in the region. The Ultrabook has already established itself as the next natural step in the laptop evolution – providing capabilities that make it extra mobile and easy to use.”