IBM Australia has confirmed that it aims to pull completely out of the retail PC business in Australia by the end of February.

A spokeswoman told Computer Daily News that retail groups who handle the IBM brand were last month given three months notice of the move, as required under their contracts. Most took it well, indicating they understood IBM's position, she said. Among the 14 major resellers affected will be major retail chains Dick Smith Electronics and David Jones Ltd. The spokeswoman said the company's PC strategy in 2002 would focus on sales to business and "tech-savvy consumers" - in the latter case, presumably via the IBM Australia Web site. Business sales would follow a hybrid direct and indirect model, she said. Main beneficiaries of IBM's decision appear to be Compaq and Hewlett-Packard, which will fight to gain the 14 percent mass-market share IBM is abandoning. That's the percentage mass-market retail tracker Inform recently gave IBM for September in the Australian retail market, the latest figures available. IBM ran third in this sector in September, according to Inform, behind Compaq (on 21 percent) and H-P (16 percent). Notebook specialist Toshiba was fourth with 9 percent - it, too, could gain from the disappearance of IBM's ThinkPads from the retail scene. Big Blue's decision follows a similar strategy already implemented by the U.S. parent company. It makes sense, according to Ideas International CEO Ian Birks. He told Computer Daily News: "It's a wise decision . . . unless you control the whole supply chain like Dell does, it is hard to make money (in the retail business)."