Worldwide thin client and terminal client device shipments totalled 1,6-million units in the fourth quarter of 2013 (4Q13), an increase of 17,4% from the previous quarter and 11,7% higher than the forecast for the quarter, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Client Device Tracker.
Shipments for the full year 2013 were 5,5-million units, representing 3,3% year-over-year growth. The forecast for 2014 is for shipments to reach 5,9-million units, representing 7,4% year-over-year growth. By 2018, these devices are expected to reach 8,9-million units shipped worldwide.
“In the fourth quarter, Asia/Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) led the worldwide enterprise client device market to its highest levels ever in unit volume with 30,5% and 20,3% quarter-over-quarter growth, respectively.
The vendors that contributed the most to the record gains were Centerm and HP,” says Jennifer Song, research analyst: Worldwide Trackers at IDC.
“IDC expects that the Asia/Pacific region will eventually capture the largest share of the worldwide market, growing its share from 33,6% in 2013 to 39,4% in 2018. The top three countries leading the region’s future growth will be China, Japan, and India.”
Thin clients continue to make up the vast majority (93,6%) of enterprise client devices and saw an increase of 14,4% from the previous quarter. Terminal clients doubled in volume in the fourth quarter to 103 000 units.
The standalone form factor constitutes the largest segment of the overall market at 91,5% share. For the mobile form factor, 52,4% of the worldwide share is concentrated in Japan. Thin clients with LCD are dominant in Asia/Pacific, excluding Japan (APeJ) with 64,5% of the worldwide share.
Thin Clients without operating systems (zero clients) now hold 26,8% share among the thin client segment, which is an increase of 47,2% from the previous year. Windows Embedded OS thin clients are the largest at 40,7% share.
HP continued to rank number one in 4Q13 with 26,9% worldwide market share. This quarter, they ranked first in six out of eight regions.
While Dell held the number two position with 21,3% worldwide market share in 4Q13, it remains the number one vendor in the Americas with 34,7% share, where it holds top rank in the United States with 38,3% share.
NComputing ranks third in worldwide market share at 14,8% share in 4Q13. Despite having no shipments in China, NComputing remained the top vendor in APeJ.
Terminal clients represent 38,5% of its total unit volume, which helped it to achieve this top position.
Within the thin client category, Centerm holds the number one position in the APeJ market for 4Q13, with 33,8% regional share due to being the leading vendor in China with 53,3% local share.
Igel saw its biggest growth this quarter with an increase of 24,1% from the previous quarter, after seeing a small decrease in the third quarter. It still had a strong 47,9% year-over-year increase at the worldwide level. 84,3% of its shipments are concentrated in Western Europe.
