Dell exec remains bullish on PC sales growth in Phl

JOEFEL O. BANZON

Some critics say the PC (personal computer) business is dwindling.

But a top executive from a technology company says otherwise.

Ronnie Latinazo, Philippines country general manager of US tech giant Dell EMC, said he still sees the PC business growing in the Philippines.

This, he noted, despite the rise of modern technologies today.

Latinazo stressed the demand for PCs is still robust despite the popularity of smartphones nowadays.

"The PC business is still very much alive," the company official said.

He said driving the demand still includes corporate clients, individual customers and the so-called mobile workforce.

Latinazo believes mobile workers are on rise nowadays. These are workers who do their jobs everywhere.

With this trend, technology companies like Dell are also coming up with latest versions of laptops that cater to the changing needs of the modern workforce.

Latinazo said businesses and workforce today are increasing critical ok devices they need to support their work today and help adapt with the future.

He said it is vital to innovate and create technologies that help customers be productive and help them persevere for the future with performance, mobility and security.

PC SALES REMAIN ROBUST

In a 2016 report of market research firm International Data Corp, it noted the record-high shipment of personal computers into the country.

According to IDC, the performance of the Philippine PC market in the first quarter of 2016 exceeded expectations, posting the highest shipment levels since the third quarter of 2014. IDC data show PC shipments reached 518,645 units, growing seven percent year-on-year.

Such robust growth reinforces the Philippine PC market’s position as among the few in the world to still see growth, it said.

IDC said the healthy shipment levels during the first quarter of the said year could be attributed to the consumer segment’s increased uptake of notebook PCs pegged at 56 percent year-onyear on the back of bullish consumer spending. Entry-level notebooks were the biggest volume drivers in the consumer market, it noted.

IDC had said this trend was expected to continue.

The Philippine PC market will be the only one in Southeast Asia to continue on a growth track, the market research firm had said.

With consumers in developed countries choosing smartphones over PCs as their computing device, the Philippines will be among the few countries in the world that will see PC market growth, said Sean Paul Agapito, IDC Philippines’ associate market analyst for client devices, in that report.