The Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) thin-client market posted single-digit growth in Q3 2014, according to the EMEA Quarterly Enterprise Client Device Tracker published by global IT market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC).
In 2014, during a transition period of IT upgrades, thin clients were competing directly and intensely with commercial PCs for markets share. Although thin clients are still a niche market in EMEA, their dynamic growth has exceeded the market average during the first three quarters of 2014. IDC expects the share of thin clients in overall shipments of commercial personal computing hardware will grow from 4,2% in 2013 to 4,4% in 2014 and continue increasing over the long-term.
Thin-client shipments in EMEA went up by 8,8% year on year in Q3 2014, which corresponded to about 94 500 units. Shipment value increased by 16,2% year on year, to reach $182,14-million. Market growth is slowing as the influence of postponed hardware upgrades and end of support for Windows XP, the main forces behind the market’s strong performance throughout much of the year, weakens. IDC expects the market to record single-digit growth again in Q4 2014 and then decline marginally in 2015 by about -0,2% year on year as a result of a decline in the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region (CEMA).
As of December, the economic and political situation in Russia and Ukraine was still precarious. The rapid depreciation of the rouble will inhibit shipments in Q4 2014 and will lead to a further year-on-year decline in H1 2015, affecting shipment volumes across the whole region. The first signs of recovery are not expected before H2 2015. The thin client and commercial PC hardware renewal rush in Western Europe (WE) is cooling down, and IDC predicts one-digit growth of thin client shipments in the region for Q4, and then a moderate decline in the first half of 2015.
“For the last three years, the EMEA thin-client market has become increasingly polarized in terms of market volume share across individual country markets,” notes Oleg Sidorkin, senior research analyst at IDC. “Rapid deployment of thin-client technology generates a leveraging effect, accelerating further technology adoption.”
As a result, the top four countries in EMEA in terms of shipments (Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and France) have increased their cumulative volume share from 58,7% of the total EMEA market in 2012 to 60,3% in 2013. And that figure is expected to reach 65,1% by the end of 2014. “The largest EMEA markets will remain the most attractive for thin-client vendors, as they are also expanding the fastest,” says Sidorkin. “Once vendors gain a foothold in these markets, they can grow quickly as these markets continue to increase their EMEA share.”
