Notebook shipments of the world's top-five brands and top-three ODMs grew 22% and 11%, respectively, on month in August 2013, but performance of individual brands and ODMs varied widely, according to the latest data compiled by Digitimes Research.
Among the top-five brands, Hewlett-Packard (HP) led fellow companies with the highest (50%) sequential shipment growth in August, followed by Lenovo with a 25% increase. Acer saw its shipments expand 20% in August due largely to a low base in the previous month, while Asustek Computer suffered a setback.
Meanwhile, Wistron outperformed other ODMs, reporting a 20% on-month growth in shipments in August thanks to orders from HP and Lenovo. Quanta Computer and Inventec both enjoyed growths of over 10%, Compal Electronics posted a single-digit growth, while Pegatron saw its shipments retreat in the month due to reduced orders from Asustek.
HP's policy to focus on improving its profitability has begun to pay off, although its total revenues were still declining. Dell's aggressive pricing has helped stabilize its sales income but losses were still significant, Digitimes Research pointed out.
The cooperation between notebook brands and Microsoft may turn sour after the software vendor announced recently plans to acquire Nokia's Devices and Services unit. Microsoft eventually will enhance its presence in the hardware end market where it will compete directly with brand players, Digitimes Research commented.
This article is an excerpt from a Chinese Digitimes Research report. Click here if you are interested in receiving more information about the content and price of a translated version of the full report.