Hey hey hey… PC sales has dropped? From The Star Online TechCentral:
PETALING JAYA: Despite the recent tax relief offered by the Government to help spur PC ownership in the country, PC sales have dropped by about 20% in September, compared to August.
The Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (Pikom) said its members had reported the dip in sales, but it declined to provide details.
The intriguing paragraph:
Pikom, however, does not know the cause of the decrease. (But) “it is clearly evident that PC sales have dropped,” Pikom treasurer Low Wai Sun told In.Tech.
One thing that immediately popped up my mind is fuel price.
For people like me who is really nuts about PC and technology, nothing would stop me of course. But for others, would they buy more PC stuff if a big part of their income have to be allocated for a more important purpose – transportation.
I think I am not the only one who is feeling some effect on the fuel price increase. As we have to go places everyday fuel is nowadays very very very important indeed. No no I am not saying that anything is wrong or whatever, the point here is that we all feel something from the fuel price increase unless we are earning 5 digit income monthly.
What do you think?
Hey while I was at The Star Online I noticed that they also have a ‘Digg This’ button. 😉
Read more about the story here: http://star-techcentral.com/tech/…
As usual, click on the link below in case the original story link is no longer valid.
Monday October 9, 2006
Pikom reports dip in PC sales nationwide
PETALING JAYA: Despite the recent tax relief offered by the Government to help spur PC ownership in the country, PC sales have dropped by about 20% in September, compared to August.
The Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (Pikom) said its members had reported the dip in sales, but it declined to provide details.
Pikom, however, does not know the cause of the decrease. (But) “it is clearly evident that PC sales have dropped,” Pikom treasurer Low Wai Sun told In.Tech.
The association believes that the tax incentive is not effective enough. But to be fair, it said, only about a month has passed since the incentive was announced by the Government.
“Better incentives are needed to encourage those in the lower income groups to buy PCs,” Low said.
During the tabling of the 2007 Malaysian Budget in September, it was announced that an up to RM3,000 tax relief would be given every three years to tax payers to encourage PC ownership and computer literacy.
That incentive replaced the previous RM500 tax rebate offered every five years. Pikom has denounced the new incentive as being inferior to the existing one because it does not benefit the low-income group.
According to the association, someone with a taxable income of RM23,000 would enjoy less of a tax break under the new incentive scheme if he bought a PC costing RM3,000 or less, compared to getting the RM500 rebate.
“The incentive does not support our aspiration to increase the PC penetration rate, particularly among lower income group,” reiterated Pikom chairman Lee Boon Kok.
He said that efforts similar to the now-discontinued PC Gemilang programme and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) withdrawal scheme for PC purchases would be more effective in reaching that goal.
PC Gemilang was a PC-ownership programme spearheaded by Pikom in 2004, which offered PCs costing below RM1,000; 10,000 units were sold. Pikom discontinued the month-long programme due to lack of funds.
The EPF scheme, which kicked off in 2001, allowed contributors to withdraw the cost of their PCs from the fund. However, the scheme was cancelled when it was found that many contributors were making false withdrawals.
The Government wants 40% of the country’s 24 million population to have PCs in their homes by 2010. Currently, only 21.9% of the population own PCs.
