The Middle East and Africa (MEA) personal computing device (PCD) market, which is made up of desktops, notebooks, workstations, and tablets, is expected to decline 6.0% year-on-year in shipment terms for the second quarter of 2022, according to industry analysis conducted by International Data Corporation (IDC).

The global technology research and consulting firm's latest Worldwide Quarterly PCD Tracker shows that an estimated 5.6 million units will be shipped across the region in Q2 2022.

"There will be two main drivers of this year-on-year decline," said Fouad Charakla, IDC's senior research manager for client devices in MEA. "The first is the worsening performance of the Turkish market due to the lira's devaluation against the US dollar. The second is the fact that a massive education deal that took place in Egypt during Q2 2021 will not be repeated on the same scale this year. Almost all the other markets in the region will remain somewhat stable year-on-year in terms of shipments."

From a product category perspective, the projected decline for Q2 2022 will root from tablets, with shipments of these devices falling 17.7% year-on-year. Meanwhile, PC shipments into the region are expected to grow 3.6% year-on-year.

"Looking at the overall market on an annualised basis, we expect PCD shipments into the MEA region to decline for 2022 as a whole," said Charakla. "This represents a significant change in fortune for the market after it experienced consecutive year-on-year shipment growth for the previous two years."

East Africa’s digital journey

In early June the IDC hosted the 9th edition of its annual IDC East Africa CIO Summit in Nairobi, under the theme 'accelerating your journey to a digital-first world.'

"As organisations strive to recover from the uncertainty wrought by the pandemic, they are increasingly taking a digital-first approach to build resilience into their operations," said Jyoti Lalchandani, IDC's group vice president and regional managing director for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa. "The journey to the future digital enterprise has accelerated, driven by significant investments in new customer experiences, new digital ecosystem business models, digital supply chains, and Future of Work initiatives."

Lalchandani expanded on these thoughts as he presented the event's opening keynote, 'reimagining tech strategies for a digital-first world'. "All of this must be supported by resilient cloud-enabled digital infrastructure and applications, rapid app development, digital platforms, data-driven and AI-enabled intelligence, and security and trust. Strong leadership, an appetite for innovation, and a sound strategy for addressing regulations will all be key to driving the digital agenda."

The agenda incorporated a fascinating 'fireside chat' about 'Solving Challenges to Innovation and Growth Across East Africa', as well as informative panel discussions on implementing effective vendor selection and management strategies and enabling greater alignment, collaboration, and co-innovation with lines of business.

These sessions showcased first-hand insights and experiences from several ICT leaders, including: Caine Wanjau, CTO, Twiga Foods; George Njuguna, CIO, Safaricom; Bernard Rono, Head of ICT, Kenya Tea Packers (Ketepa); Joel K. Busienei, Group Head of IT Infrastructure, Equity Bank; and Supriyo Biswas, Associate CISO, SBM Bank.