Adding Russia -- a "key country," according to the authors -- to the traditional EMEA footprint, the study tracked both the installed base of POS terminals and new shipments. Terminals running WEPOS and XPe were considered, along with those running earlier versions of Windows, such as Windows 2000, NT, or 9x.
Overall, Windows had 61 percent of the installed base, while 23 percent of it went to another Microsoft product -- DOS. Linux was left with only a three percent piece of the pie, as shown below. These results contrast with those in the IHL Group's prior study of the
2007 North American POS market, which showed Linux with 8.5 percent share, and DOS at under five percent.
2007 EMEA POS installed base by OS
Source: IHL GroupAs to growth, shipments were up four percent overall, but Microsoft products were veritable superstars, with WEPOS up 254 percent, and XPe up 56 percent. Linux grew too, but by a relatively modest nine percent, IHL says.
Additional findings included:
- Shipments to Russia increased 12 percent in 2007, and should see similar or higher growth in 2008.
- Shipments to developing markets in Eastern Europe and the Middle East nearly equaled those going to Germany, historically the largest recipient of shipments in the region
Growth during 2008 will be driven in Western Europe by replacement of systems installed in the late 1990s, just before the Euro conversion and Y2K, and in Russia and the Middle East by the tremendous growth in their retail infrastructures, IHL says. Because of these factors, the EMEA POS market is poised to remain strong even while shipments slow in North America, the study forecasts.
AvailabilityIHL's "2008 EMEA POS Terminal Market Study" is available immediately. The 114-page study reportedly includes country by country shipments, installed base, trends, and forecasts through 2012. It costs $2,995, and is available from the IHL website,
here.
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