“The PC market has once again proved its resilience as worldwide shipments surged to register an impressive 16.6 per cent growth in the second quarter of 2005,” said DWTC Director General, Helal Saeed Khalfan Al Marri. “This buoyancy in the ICT sector will create new opportunities for future region-wide growth and Dubai is well positioned to play an active role through GITEX Shopper,” he stressed.
PC shipments in markets such as Latin America, the Middle East and Africa are expected to continue growing by over 20 per cent during the current year.
Leading market research firm IDC’s preliminary survey shows that in the Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) the PC market totalled 9.5 million units in the second quarter of 2005, representing a sequential growth of 7% and a robust 17% year-on-year growth.
IDC’s study in June predicted that PC shipments would grow worldwide by 11.4 per cent in 2005, to 199.2 million, and by 9 per cent to 217 million in 2006, revising its pervious forecast. The company’s March report had predicted worldwide growth of just 9.7 percent for 2005 and 8.6 percent for 2006.
“Feeding this growth surge is the sheer appetite worldwide for state-of-the-art technology on the one hand and corporate security measures on the other. The ICT spending strategies worked out by banks, the service sector, infrastructure and manufacturing sectors will only add momentum to GITEX Shopper,” said Mr. Al Marri.
These key industries specifically prefer a high-tech and safe environment in order to ward off threats to their corporate networks posed by hackers and computer viruses. IDC says: “Corporate concerns with endpoint security, regulatory compliance, spyware, spam, worms, viruses, digital identities, mobility and complexity will help to drive the security software market to achieve almost AED22 billion (US$6 billion) in revenue in 2009.”
Pointing out that GITEX provides the ultimate answer to all these industry issues, Mr. Al Marri added, “This is the reason why the region’s premier IT event has been successful all these years.”
Shopper 2005 is the region’s largest consumer show in technology, offering the best deals and promotions on the latest products and services. GITEX Shopper offers scores of prizes, raffles, easy payment facilities, credit card promotions and instant cash prizes, thus creating an ideal opportunity for the benefit of consumers.
The deployment of technology, electronic equipment and gadgetry for personal and business benefits has long been proclaimed throughout the retail sector. Also, Shopper provides retailers with both hard benefits and measurable advantages.
“Visitors to Shopper 2005 stand to gain from these attractive offers on all the latest products. The consistent rise in visitor number over the years is a strong indication of the interest generated during the show among consumers in the range of products available from across the sector,” Mr Al Marri remarked.
Last year’s event reported on-site sales in excess of AED 56 million (US$15.25 million) during the weeklong exhibition. The show attracted around 108,000 visitors and the average per capita spend was AED 519 (US$141) per consumer.
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