Intel expects Brazil to become 3rd largest computer market
7/8/2007 16:04
Brazil is expected to become the world's third largest market for
computers in 2010, said Ricardo Carreon, Intel's Director General for Latin
America, yesterday.
To accomplish that, the country, which currently occupies
the seventh position in world ranking, needs to overcome France, the UK, Germany
and Japan. The US and China come in the first and second positions
respectively.
Carreon said Brazil's computer sector has extremely positive
and peculiar characteristics, which has made the country a developed
market.
"The (computer) industry in the world grows at an average of 10
percent per year. In Brazil, that growth is 10 percentage points higher than
that average," said the executive.
The US company estimates that the
Brazilian computer market as a whole will grow 20 percent in the next three
years, but growth expectations on retail is expected to reach 30 percent in the
period.
A study revealed that 78 percent of Brazilians who bought a computer
in 2006 chose to acquire a new one, instead of a second-hand one, up from 75
percent in 2005.
The research also showed that a personal computer is being
used for more sophisticated purposes, such as downloading music and videos,
backup, interactions on online communities and uploading digital photos to
websites.
Internet users who rely on broadband cable connection increased
from 10 percent to 16 percent, and dial-up connections fell from 45 percent to
39 percent, said the study.
The study, carried out among 1,400 Brazilians
aged between 18 and 45, also said that the amount of laptops with Internet
connections rose from 75 percent to 90 percent over the period, reflecting the
manufacturers' investments in wireless technology.
Intel's President in
Brazil, Oscar Clark, explained that four factors have contributed to the rise in
the demand for computer technology in the country, namely the devaluation of the
US dollar against the local currency real, the struggle to ban an underground
market, tax incentives and the more offer of credits to consumers.
Xinhua
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