Emerging markets were a key bright spot in the overall hardcopy peripherals (HCP) market in the second quarter of 2011 (2Q11), with unit shipments up 6% year over year for the seventh consecutive quarter of growth. In contrast, the developed regions recorded the first quarter of negative shipment growth since 1Q10, resulting in a year-over-year decline of 0.3% in the overall HCP market. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, the worldwide HCP market saw shipments of nearly 29 million units in the second quarter with inkjet continuing as the dominant technology at 63% share.

While the HCP market is largely shaped by Japanese manufacturers, in both hardware and consumable supplies, IDC expects the production decline due to the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake in March to be short term, said Phuong Hang, program manager, Worldwide Hardcopy Peripheral Trackers.

Technology Highlights

• With more than 18.3 million units shipped, 2Q11 witnessed the lowest inkjet shipments since 2Q09. Laser, on the other hand, enjoyed 4% year-over-year growth in unit shipments and gained 1 point to 32% share over the same time period.
• Monochrome laser continued its positive performance from the last six quarters in the second quarter with 5% year-over-year growth and close to 7.9 million units shipped. All regions except Western Europe and the U.S. saw year-over-year growth in monochrome shipments with Latin America leading the pack at 30%.
• Color laser posted a decline of 3% year over year in unit shipments, the first negative trend since 2009. With close to 1.5 million units shipped in 2Q11, the best performance region for color laser was Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) (APeJ) with more than 278 thousand units, resulting in 7% year-over-year growth.

Vendor Highlights

• HP held the number 1 position in 2Q11 with 41.5% share and over 12 million units shipped. Despite nearly flat year-over-year growth, HP managed to gain one point of share from a year ago, driven mostly by gains in Latin America and APeJ.
• Canon continued as the number 2 vendor with 19.5% share in the overall hardcopy market, essentially unchanged from a year ago. Canon's grew 1.8% year over year with more than 5.6 million units shipped. Central Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMA) and APeJ were Canon's best performance regions with 14% and 9% growth, respectively.
• Epson remained the number 3 vendor in the global HCP market with 12.3% market share, down 2 points from a year ago. Shipments fell in most regions, resulting in a 12% year-over-year contraction in 2Q11, the worst trend among the top 5.
• Samsung strengthened its position as the number 4 vendor in the total HCP market with 6.0% share. The vendor grew 3.2% year over year and recorded shipments of more than 1.7 million units during the second quarter.
• Brother held the number 5 ranking with 5.6% share, up one point from a year ago, and more than 1.6 million units shipped. Brother posted 4.0% growth, the best year-over-year trend among the top 5.