Worldwide PC Shipments to grow 20 Percent in 2010: Gartner

According to the latest preliminary
href="http://www.globalservicesmedia.com/Strategies-and-Best-Practices/Emerging-Models/Gartner-Releases-Business-Predictions-for-2010/24/32/0/GS100118527945">forecast
by Gartner, worldwide PC shipments are projected to total to
366.1 million units in 2010, a 19.7 percent increase from 305.8
million units shipped in 2009. Worldwide PC spending is forecast to
reach $245 billion in 2010, up 12.2 percent from 2009. This forecast
is more optimistic than Gartner's December 2009 forecast, which
anticipated 13.3 percent growth in href="https://www.dqweek.com/pcs-witness-max-growth-in-q4-09">PC
shipments in 2010 and 1.9
percent growth in spending.

Gartner anticipates all regional
markets will return to growth and exhibit more normal seasonality in
2010. The market will remain robust with unit growth continuing to
increase strongly over the next few years, as home PC demand
accelerates and professional replacements rise in the recovery from
the global recession. “The PC industry will be overwhelmingly
driven by mobile PCs, thanks to the strong home growth in both
emerging and mature markets,” said George Shiffler, Research
Director, Gartner. According to Shiffler, mini-notebooks are again
the forecast to boost mobile PC growth in 2010, but their
contribution is expected to decline noticeably afterward, as they
face growing competition from new ultra-low-voltage (ULV)
ultraportable laptops and next-generation tablets. style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;">
Desk-based PC shipment growth will be minimal and limited to
emerging mar style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;">kets.
Gartner
expects mobile PCs to drive 90 percent of PC growth over the
next three years. In 2009, mobile PCs accounted for 55 percent of all
PC shipments. By 2012, the company expects mobile PCs to account for
nearly 70 percent of shipm style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;">ents color="#000000"> style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;">.

Apple's announcement of its u style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;">pcoming
iPad
has created much discussion in the marketplace regarding
market opportunities for traditional tablet PCs and next-generation
tablet dev style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;">ices.
Gartner's
initial thinking is that vendors could ship up to 10.5 million
traditional tablets and next-generation tablet devices worldwide in
2010.

“User requirements are clearly
segmenting, and the mini-notebook proved this point,” said Ranjit
Atwal, Principal Analyst, Gartner. “Vendors can no longer afford to
just think in terms of traditional PC form factors or architectures.
With the rise of Web-delivered applications, many users no longer
need a traditional PC running a resident general-purpose operating
system and fast x86 CPU to satisfy their computing needs. Apple's
iPad is just one of many new devices coming to market that will
change the entire PC eco-system and will overlap it with the mobile
phone industry. This will create significantly more opportunities for
PC vendors as well as significantly more threats.”

“Opportunities and risks for the PC
market certainly seem tilted toward the upside now, following many
quarters in the balance,” said Atwal. “New challenges are arising
that will extend the PC eco-system, increasing choice and
competition. Ultimately, it will be the consumer who decides just how
far that eco-system extends and at what rate the PC industry gro style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;">ws,”
concluded
Atwal.