Babangida's son declines Tinubu's appointment @BOA - ITREALMS

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Former President Ibrahim Babangida's son, Muhammed Babangida, has declined President Bola Tinubu's appointment as Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), reports ITREALMS.

In a letter made public on Monday, and sighted by 
ITREALMS, Babangida expressed gratitude to Tinubu for the offer but cited personal and professional reasons for his decision to decline.

Personal Computing Devices demand declines in MEA - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The Personal Computing Devices (PCD) market in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) has been reported as being on the drop side which is made up of desktops, notebooks, workstations, and tablets, reports ITREALMS.

According to the latest insights from International Data Corporation (IDC), PCD declined by 7.7 per cent year on year in Q2 2018.

The global technology research and consulting firm's Quarterly PCD Tracker shows that shipments fell to around 5.4 million units for the three-month period, which represents the lowest quarterly volume recorded for more than seven years.

"While this marks a considerable decline for the overall market, the PC segment actually performed well, with desktops experiencing strong growth and notebooks experiencing only a small decline," explains Fouad Charakla, IDC's senior research manager for client devices in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa. "However, there was a much more significant decline in tablet shipments, and only the aggressive distribution push of certain Far-Eastern players prevented an even steeper decline."

The biggest decline in PCD shipments was seen in the 'Rest of Middle East' group of countries (which comprises Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Palestine). "Iran accounted for the largest chunk of this decline, with the country's worsening economic situation further weakening the local currency, which in turn caused shipments into the country to become more expensive and demand to decline," says Charakla. "The MEA region's largest single market, Turkey, experienced something similar, with the country's currency weakening to new lows against the U.S. Dollar, causing a significant increase in the cost of imported devices and a corresponding decline in demand."

In stark contrast, South Africa experienced strong year-on-year growth in PCD shipments after the rand reached one of its highest levels against the US dollar in recent times. "Market players operating in the country continued to take advantage of this opportunity throughout Q2 2018, with imported PCs costing far less than previously for both local channels and end users," says Charakla. "Other countries that saw strong year-on-year growth for the quarter were Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, and Lebanon."

IDC's research shows that the leading PC vendors remained unchanged in Q2 2018, with the top five all occupying the same positions as Q2 2017. While HP experienced a significant year-on-year jump in its share of PC shipments for the quarter, all the other major players saw their shares shrink, with the exception of Acer, which remained flat. It is also worth noting that the top three vendors accounted for more than 80% of the region's commercial PC shipments in Q2 2018.

Chuks Egbune/ED, Ops

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Africa tablet market declines in global trend

ITRealms:

African Information and Communication Technology (ICT) market seems to be feeling the impact of Nigeria’s economic recession as the continent is witnessing a decline in tablet market based on global trend, reports ITRealms.

Senior research analyst for client devices at the International Data Corporation (IDC) for the Middle East and Africa (MEA), Nakul Dogra, gave this indication at the weekend, saying that the Middle East and Africa (MEA) tablet market declined 24.2 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in the final quarter of 2016 to total 3.07 million units.

The global Information Technology (IT) research and consulting services firm's Middle East and Africa Quarterly Tablet Tracker shows that for 2016 as a whole, tablet shipments in MEA declined 14.7 per cent Y-o-Y to total 13.8 million units, which is in line with global tablet market's 15.6 per cent decline over the same period.

"Tasks that were previously performed on tablets are increasingly moving to bigger-screen smartphones, so tablets are becoming redundant in the consumer ecosystem of gadgets. Indeed, consumers are now investing more time and money into smartphones than tablets, which has led to a slowdown of tablet markets around the world, not just here in MEA. That said, there are still countries in Africa that harbor scope for further tablet penetration," Dogra said.

In terms of vendor rankings, Samsung continued to lead the MEA tablet market in Q4 2016 with unit share of 17.6%, despite experiencing a significant decline in shipments of -28.0% on the previous quarter and -43.6% on the corresponding period of 2015. Lenovo remained in second place, increasing its share to 10.8% from 9.9% in Q4 2015. Apple climbed into third spot, capturing 8.7% share despite suffering a -41.2% Y-on-Y decline in shipments.

UAE-based vendor i-Life rose to fourth in the rankings with a market share of 7.4%, spurred by the popularity of its low-cost offerings. Huawei's shipments fell -39.6% Y-on-Y in Q4 2016 to account for market share of just 5.1%, a considerable drop from its 13.5% share in the previous quarter.

"With the lack of any noteworthy innovation taking place in much of the tablet space, there is little reason for the majority of consumers to upgrade to newer-generation tablets," says Fouad Rafiq Charakla, senior research manager for client devices at IDC MEA. "This is prolonging the refreshment cycle for tablets in the region and causing an inevitable slowdown in the market," Dogra said.

Taking the above factors into account, IDC's tablet market forecast has been revised downwards. IDC now expects the market to decline -8.1% Y-on-Y in 2017 to total 12.76 million units. The longer-term forecast has also been revised downwards, with IDC now expecting the market to decline at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of -0.2% over the 2016–2021 period to total 13.64 million units in 2021.

"e-Tailers are expected to grow strongly in the coming years. Increasingly, local retailers are investing more in the online channel. Also, newer players are expected to enter the market in the coming year, which is going to further intensify competition in the online retail segment. The above factors, coupled with aggressive pricing, will further drive the growth of the e-tailer segment, with IDC expecting that by the year 2021, 12% of tablets will be sold through e-tailers in the MEA region," Dogra concluded.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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PC market declines in Middle East, Africa by 25.9%

ITRealms:

The Middle East and Africa (MEA) PC market has witnessed a 25.9 per cent year-on-year decline in shipments in the first quarter 2016, reports ITRealms.

Acclaimed global technology research and consulting firm, the International Data Corporation (IDC) made this revelation at the weekend, saying that shipments to the region fell for the fourth consecutive quarter, to total 3.2 million units.

Notebooks, IDC said, recorded a sharp 28.7 per cent decline in shipments to total 1.9 million units, while desktop shipments registered a comparatively slower decline, falling by 21.4 per cent year-on-year to total 1.3 million units.

The Senior Research Manager for Personal Computing, Systems, and Infrastructure Solutions, IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey at IDC, Fouad Charakla, said all the largest markets in the region declined in the first quarter Q1 of 2016.

“The reasons differ from country to country, but slowdowns in tourist spending, lower consumer confidence resulting from low oil prices, political and economic instability, currency devaluations, and military conflicts have all played a part in the regional contraction. The ongoing shift in end-user spending toward smartphones and, to a lesser extent, tablets in the consumer segment was also a key element in the market’s decline,” Charakla said.

Akin to previous quarters, Charakla pointed out that the positions of the top three vendors remained unchanged in Q1 2016, despite experiencing a year-on-year decline of 23.4 per cent in shipments.

“HP remained the market leader, securing the highest market share ever attained by a PC vendor in the region over the past 10 years. Second-placed Lenovo registered a slightly deeper year-on-year decline of 25.2 per cent, while third-placed Dell suffered the sharpest decline of all vendors, recording a 28.9 per cent fall in shipments,” the manager said.

In the intervening time, fourth-ranked Acer was the only vendor to experience growth in the region, with a 2.2 per cent year-on-year increase in shipments. However, the gap in terms of the market share of the top four vendors remains significant with Asus in fifth place, although Asus suffered a year-on-year decline of 7.3per cent in shipments during the first quarter of the year.

“With the approach of the holy month of Ramadan combined with the usual summer slowdown in activity, the second quarter of 2016 is also expected to record a decline in shipments, albeit a much softer one,” continues Charakla. “In the longer term, the PC market is expected to recover to some extent in 2017, with modest growth anticipated in the following years. Shipments to Africa are expected to grow slightly faster than shipments to the Middle East. Some substantial desktop orders were secured by local brands in Egypt and Algeria during Q1 2016, and there were also a number of large education sector deliveries that took place in smaller African markets during the quarter, such as in Rwanda, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast.”

IDC further noted that there will continue to be a gradual shift in the pattern of demand from consumers to commercial customers, as a growing proportion of home users switch from PCs to tablets and smartphones, while commercial end users retain a stronger loyalty to PCs. The only exception to this trend will be the education sector, where commercial users will transition from PCs to tablets at a much faster rate. Despite this anomaly, commercial demand for PCs in the region is expected to surpass that of home users by 2018.

Chuks Egbuna/GEE 

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