PC SHIPMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA REACH US$1.8 BILLION.

Total desktop and notebook PC shipments in Latin America reached almost 1.63 million units for Q3 1999, growing over 25% from Q3 1998 and 20% from Q2 1999, according to International Data Corporation Latin America. Total PC shipment value reached almost US$1.8 billion for the quarter, up over 12% from Q2.

IDC's research reveals Mexico's strong desktop PC growth of over 82% from a year ago was the largest contributor to a healthy regional expansion. Also fueling the growth of the desktop PC market is the continuous growth of local PC assemblers and small integrators mainly in Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela.

"A particularly successful strategy boosting Mexico's desktop market has been to bundle PCs with Internet service while offering flexible financing options," said Alexandra Martinez, analyst for IDC Latin America PC research. "This strategy targets the home and small business segments, tapping into lower economic levels that previously did not have access to this technology."

Regional notebook shipments reached over 102,000 units, a 17% increase from a year ago and a 37% increase sequentially. Improvements in pricing and in financing options have allowed notebooks to penetrate the home segment.

Compaq positioned itself as the number one PC vendor in each of the top six IT markets, capturing over 18% of the regional PC market. Compaq's largest success this quarter was in Mexico where it lowered PC prices significantly and executed well-defined market strategies for each customer segment with special focus on the home segment.

Acer became the region's second-largest vendor in Q3, followed by IBM and Hewlett-Packard. Dell captured under 3% of the Latin American PC market share in Q3. However, it shows great potential for regional growth in the medium term as it begins manufacturing in Brazil in Q4 1999.

IDC's research indicates the Latin American PC market will continue to grow rapidly for the remainder of 1999. This growth will be led in great part by Mexico's booming PC market and economic recovery in the region. "Greater participation from the home segment during the holiday season will also boost PC shipments to the region in Q4," Martinez said.

With a network of six country offices in Latin America and two regional offices -- in Silicon Valley, Calif. and Miami -- IDC provides full market coverage of PCs, mainframes, Unix systems and workstations, servers, desktop printers, professional services, local area networks, the Internet, telecom, RDBMS software, distribution channels, NT, and IT spending patterns in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela. IDC also conducts primary research in Peru, Ecuador, Central America, and the Caribbean. International Data Corporation is a supplier of IT market information on Latin America.

About IDC

IDC delivers high-impact data and insight on information technology to help organizations make business and technology decisions. IDC forecasts worldwide IT markets and technology trends and analyzes IT products and vendors, using a combination of primary research and in-depth competitive analysis. IDC provides global research with local content through more than 500 analysts in 42 countries worldwide. IDC's customers comprise of leading IT suppliers, IT organizations, and the financial community. IDC can be found at http://www.idc.com.

IDC is a division of International Data Group, an IT media, research, and exposition company.

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