Healthy consumer demand in 2004 for U.K. PC market.(Database and Network News and Products)

In line with forecasts, the U.K. PC market expanded by 16.9% year on year in the final quarter of 2004, leading to full year growth of 17.9% overall. Concluding what has been a strong year for the industry, over 2-6 million units were shipped in 4Q, 35% of which were notebooks. The notebook market continued to be the key driver of growth, expanding by 34.4% year on year, while desktop and x86 server sales grew by 9. 1% and 13% respectively.

Competition between and within the direct and indirect channels continued to intensify in 2004, driving down consumer PC prices and