Since early September the Rand has lost another 8% against the dollar, making it possible that laptop prices will be hiked from 15% this year to around 20% – and meaning that an increasing number of people and companies are now resorting to renting laptops.
This is according to Christopher Riley, CEO of The Notebook Company, who says rentals now account for 10% of the company’s turnover.
“So far this year we have seen a tremendous upswing in short-term rentals, typically from larger organisations who are renting for specific projects – up to 10 to 100 laptops for two months,” says Riley. “But I also think the price of buying laptops has also played a hand in this. While laptop sales are slipping they are still rather buoyant. But I think more people might start renting – certainly larger companies.”
Riley says that a year ago, laptop rentals accounted for about 5% of The Notebook Company’s revenue. He now believes that, by year end, rentals could account for up to 15% of revenue.
“This seems to be a new trend,” he says.
Worldwide PC shipments totalled 68,4-million units in the second quarter of 2015, amounting to a 9,5% decline from the second quarter of 2014, according to preliminary results from Gartner. This was the steepest decline since the third quarter of 2013. PC shipments are projected to decline 4,4% in 2015.