"The U.K. market remained the weakest of the larger PC markets in Western Europe with growth almost half that of France. Given the UK market was also the weakest in the downturn, its recovery had been much more muted," said Mr. Atwal.

In the second quarter, the mobile PC market grew 17%, with consumer PCs leading the way with more than 30% growth compared to low double-digit professional mobile growth. This trend was repeated for desk-based PCs. All-in-one consumer PC sales grew in double-digits while professional desk-based PCs saw only single-digit growth, despite a very weak second quarter of 2009. This indicates the recovery of the professional market is being delayed.



"There is no doubt that the introduction of the austerity measures in the U.K. has hindered any anticipated improvement in the underlying demand for PCs," said Mr. Atwal. "We don’t expect this to change for the rest of 2010. As businesses and consumers come to terms with the potential impact of the government measures, caution is certainly the keyword across all IT markets and the PC market is currently no different."

Dell felt the full impact of the UK's market weakness, shrinking more than 20% year-on-year. Dell was affected on the professional side and was unable to capture retail shelf space, as the PC channel squeezed overall volumes in reaction to a weaker market. Acer and HP's respective performance was more than twice the average market growth as they dominated the consumer market with a combined share of almost 45%. "In many ways, the remaining vendors only have half the consumer market to target, and in a weak market that is a tough proposition," added Mr. Atwal.