Regional personal computer (PC) sales in the second quarter this year grew 36 per cent year-on-year, an IDC statement said, one percentage point below IDC analysts' forecasts,

"Portable PC shipments in markets like China and Indonesia came in short of our aggressive forecasts this quarter," said IDC analyst Bryan Ma.

Dipping notebook sales were offset by stronger-than-expected desktop shipments.

But Ma was convinced that notebooks would continue to drive regional PC sales and weather competition posed by tablets such as the wildly popular iPad.

Apple announced on Monday that the iPad will go on sale in nine more countries this week including Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore, after going on sale earlier in Australia and Japan.

"Heavy demand for notebooks will still be a key driver in the upcoming years despite potential competitive pressure coming from media tablets like Apple's iPad," Ma stated.

Chinese computer maker Lenovo continued to lead in the region with a 20.3 per cent market share, while Hewlett-Packard continued its downward slide with 11.6 per cent compared with 14.1 per cent in the previous quarter, IDC said.

Dell held 9.6 per cent market share and Acer garnered 8.7 per cent, it added.