Research from International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that the personal and entry-level storage (PELS) market in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) was up 0,4% year-over-year with around 7-million units shipped in the third quarter of 2014 (3Q14), according to the latest IDC Worldiwide Personal and Entry-Level Storage Tracker.
Shipment values were down 2,3% from a year ago, to $551-million.
The increase in shipments mainly came from the personal storage segment, where unit shipments were up 0,5% year-over-year in 3Q14 in EMEA. Within this segment, single-bay devices accounted for 98,1% of market share, increasing unit shipments 0,4% year-over-year and remaining the most popular storage product choice. Dual-bay devices, accounting for the rest of the market, saw units shipped increase 6,1% from a year ago.
Entry-level unit shipments decreased 7,7% year-over-year. This decline was primarily from the 4-bay devices that represented 64,6% of the total market segment and whose units shipped were down 13,8% year-over-year during the quarter. Higher-bay devices [8–12 bays] that contributed to 29,1% of entry-level segment shipments saw a combined increase of 16,7% year-over-year in their unit shipments.
In terms of capacity, 4Tb devices accounted for the majority of the entry-level market with 32% of total units shipped, followed by 8Tb storage devices with 21,4%.
The personal storage market is shifting from lower capacity points to higher capacities. Personal storage products with higher capacities (2/4/6/8Tb) contributed to 23,5% of units and experienced a combined growth of 25,3% year-over-year.
Products with lower capacity points (500GB/1Tb), however, contributed to 71,9% of the units share, down 5,6% compared to a year ago, according to Jimena Sisa, senior research analyst, IDC.
“Lower average selling prices are clearly triggering higher consumer and small and medium business spending, as customers here are opting for higher-capacity products such as 2Tb, 4Tb, 6Tb, and 8Tb,” she says.
The PELS market includes storage hardware products embedding from 1 to 12 disk bays, manufactured and marketed for consumers, small offices/home offices (SOHO), and small businesses.
Major vendors covered in this IDC Tracker include Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba, Buffalo Technology, D-Link, Netgear, and Lenovo/EMC (Iomega).
