Latin America PC Sales Grow

BY JOACHIM BAMRUD

Despite the economic crisis last year, Latin America’s PC sector managed to inch up total sales and set a new record. Those results were in large part due to the fast-growing portable PC segment, which includes netbooks.

“Netbooks have grown enormously,” says Jesus Maximoff, general manager for Latin America for U.S.-based chip giant Intel. “It’s a trend that will only grow this year in Latin America, especially in Mexico and Brazil”

Intel is a key participant in the netbook growth thanks to its Classmate PC, which is being purchased by several governments in Latin America for distribution at schools.

“In 2010 …there will be more portables than [desktops],” Maximoff predicts.

Market researcher IDC concurs. It expects that portable PC’s will account for more than half of all PC’s sold in Latin America this year compared with a third of all PC’s sold in 2008.

While desktop PC sales fell 15 percent last year, portable PC sales jumped ...

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Keywords: Acer, Argentina, Brazil, Classmate PC, Dell, Ecuador, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Mexico, One Laptop per Child, Peru, Positivo, Venezuela