Industrial PC & terminal market growth nosedives!

The latest industrial PC (IPC) and operator terminal quarterly market tracker results from IMS Research clearly show a year-on-year slowdown in revenue growth throughout 2011.

Click pic to read graph

The 2011 fourth quarter results for both trackers, based on reported data from vendors, were published earlier this week. They show a nosedive in year-on-year quarterly revenue growth rates during the course of 2011. The year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter revenue growth profiles for the world IPC and operator terminal markets are shown in Figure 1.

The fourth quarter results show that IPC and operator terminal revenues peaked mid-2011. World revenues declined in the fourth quarter for IPCs; and in the third and fourth quarters for operator terminals.

After a strong bounce-back in 2010 from the recession, quarter-on-quarter revenue growth in 2011 slowed significantly, or revenues even contracted. IPC and operator terminal revenues were estimated to have declined in the fourth quarter by 4% and 8% respectively.

Overall, 2011 was a good year for both markets, largely due to strong results in the middle two quarters. The latest annual revenue estimates generated by the tracker show world growth of over 16% for IPCs and 14% for operator terminals.

In 2011, of the three major regions, the Americas had the best estimated year-on-year quarterly revenue growth rates. Fourth quarter revenue growth of 14% and 8% for operator terminals and IPCs respectively helped to lessen the impact of the poorer EMEA and Asia-Pacific results on the world figures.

It is possible that recovery from the recession so far has been slower in the Americas than in EMEA or Asia Pacific. Though growth in the latter two markets is now slowing, the market in the Americas is still showing strong growth. The strong performance of the automotive sector, particularly towards the end of 2011, will have helped IPC and operator terminal revenues in the Americas to continue to grow quarter by quarter.

It is safe to suggest that at a world level, given the general downward revenue growth trend of both trackers, first-half revenues for 2012 are likely to be less than in 2011; as both markets start to stabilize after the events of 2009.