The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) thin client market faced a severe contraction in Q1 2015. The shipments declined at -10,2% year-on-year, and resulted in 438 000 units shipped, according to the EMEA Quarterly Enterprise Client Device Tracker published by global IT market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC).
“Windows XP played a slippery trick with the thin client market in Western Europe hotting up early renewals and new purchases in 2014. Our analysis suggests that the market overshot its long-term growth trend by about five to seven percentage points,” says Oleg Sidorkin, senior research analyst at IDC. “As a result, in the beginning of 2015 the market faced a shortage of new projects and a weak demand. Nevertheless, as the impact of the demand shock fades away, the market will return to the long-term growth by the end of the year.”
In Western Europe (WE) the thin client market experienced a double-digit decline contracting at -13,3% year-on-year in Q1 2015. At the same time, the long-term demand drivers, such as virtualisation technology push, transition from PC to thin clients and sustained economic expansion, went on fuelling the market development. As a result, as compared to Q1 2013 the overall shipments went up by about 10%. According to the latest forecast, the thin client market in Western Europe will return to strong one-digit year-on-year growth in the last quarter of 2015.
In Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the market decline in Q1 2015 (-16,3% year-on-year) was in line with the forecast as the demand contraction in Russia and Ukraine exceeded the steady growth in the Central Europe. This trend will continue throughout 2015. Brisk shipments in South Africa and Morocco drove the growth in Africa, while the Middle East region showed mixed performance.
The overall market in the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMA) will remain volatile by the end of the year, influenced by political and economic disturbances across the region. Low oil prices that accelerate economic development in Western Europe will impede IT investments in oil-rich countries. Escalating military conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Ukraine will create additional mid-term risks for economic development in the region.