EMEA Thin-Client Market Gains, CEE Suffers Setback

The Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) thin-client market posted double-digit growth in Q2 2014 for the second quarter in a row, according to the EMEA Quarterly Enterprise Client Device Tracker published by global IT market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC).

Economic recovery in Western Europe, previously postponed projects in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the Middle East, and Africa (MEA), as well as hardware upgrades accelerated by end of support for Windows XP, were among the main driving forces behind the market's strong performance.

Thin-client shipments in EMEA increased by 15.3% year-on-year in quarter two 2014, which corresponded to about 476,500 units.

Shipment value also went up, by 22.2% year on year, to reach $169.65 million.

Value has been growing faster than volume for the past six consecutive quarters, reflecting both stronger demand for more powerful hardware and an increasing demand for all-in-one (AIO) thin clients.

The latter accounted for 4.5% volume share of total thin-client shipments in the region.

"It is worth noting that the influence of the migration from expired Windows XP, as a market driver for PC and thin-client renewals, will weaken by the end of 2014. As a result, thin-client growth will ease off as well," said Oleg Sidorkin, senior research analyst at IDC. "In H1 2015, EMEA thin-client shipments could post a marginal decline, unless economic growth across Europe stabilizes sufficiently to become a strong market driver."

As the economic and political situations in Russia and Ukraine have not improved as of September 2014, with further economic sanctions against Russia expected in the coming months, the medium-term thin-client forecast in the CEE region was revised downwards.

The share of the Russian thin-client market in the CEE region will decline to 52.5% in 2014, in contrast to the uncommon high of 72% in 2012.

As a result, overall CEE shipments will record a severe year-on-year decline of 21.1% in 2014.