According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Client Device Tracker, worldwide thin client and terminal client device shipments totaled 1.2 million units in the first quarter of 2013 (1Q13), a decrease of 8.4% from the same quarter a year ago and 14.2% lower than IDC forecast for the quarter. IDC expects the market to recover over the remainder of the year with 5.6 million units forecast to be shipped in 2013, representing 7% year-over-year growth for the year. By 2017, these devices are expected to reach 9.2 million units shipped worldwide.

"With increasing adoption of cloud and virtualization, growth is expected in all form factors, including mobile and with liquid crystal display (LCD), although standalone will still dominate," said Jennifer Song, Research Analyst, Worldwide Trackers. "The United States will continue to capture the majority of the market and is expected to grow, but the strongest growth will be in China. These two major markets will lead the shift towards virtualization in the commercial segment."

Technology Highlights

• Thin Clients make up the vast majority (96%) of enterprise client devices.
• The standalone form factor constitutes the largest segment of the overall market at 89% share. The mobile form factor is growing the fastest in Japan. Thin clients with LCD are dominant in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan)(APeJ), the U.S., and Western Europe.
• Thin Clients without operating systems (zero clients) hold 24% share among the thin client segment. Linux-based thin clients are slightly larger at 25%.

"The worldwide enterprise client device market is highly concentrated, with the top five firms capturing more than 74% of the total market," said Rajani Singh, Research Analyst, Personal Computing at IDC.

Vendor Highlights

• HP – HP continued to rank number 1 in 1Q13 with 28.2% worldwide market share. They also rank first in 4 out of 8 regions.
• DellWyse – While Dell held the number 2 position with 24.7% worldwide market share in 1Q13, it was the number one vendor in the U.S., which is the largest region.
• NComputing – Despite being ranked number 3 worldwide, NComputing was the number 2 vendor in APeJ and the Middle East and Africa (MEA).
• Centerm – Centerm continued to hold the number 1 position in the APeJ market for 1Q13, with 28% share. It has been the leader in this region since the first quarter of 2012, previously competing with NComputing and HP for leadership in the region.
• Igel – Igel saw the biggest annual growth among the Top 5 vendors with a 10% year-over-year increase at the worldwide level.

Worldwide Enterprise Client Device Unit Shipments, Market Share, and YoY Growth, First Quarter 2013