Desktop recovery forecast slammed

Bouncing back: global PC shipments are projected to grow 20 per cent annually this year

VARs have reacted with bemusement to upbeat projections for the traditional desktop PC market, reporting far more interest in thin client technology.

Research house IDC predicts global PC shipments will grow about 20 per cent this year to 354.8 million. Annual growth across the world’s mature markets will stand at 13.6 per cent.

Strong growth in portable PC shipments is projected to fuel double-digit expansion of the total market for every year up to 2014, when PC shipments are expected to reach about 570 million.

Netbooks are becoming less of a driver for market grow­th. According to IDC, the mini-machines will not account for any more than 12 per cent of the overall market in the foreseeable future.

In 2010 shipments of desktops are projected to increase 8.2 per cent year on year. A return to standard business refresh cycles, coupled with the popularity of all-in-one PCs, will drive the market this year, said IDC.

But Andrew Henderson, commercial director at VAR Lanway, said he has seen no increase in PC sales this year.

“If businesses are refreshing, they are looking at putting money into the server room and putting high-performance thin clients on the desks,” he said.

Shaune Parsons, managing director of ComputerWorld Wales, said: “Customers are not buying as much as they normally would. They are also trying to make it last longer by asking for four- or five-year warranti es.”

Parsons was another to claim thin client is becoming a growth area for his firm. One customer had implemented the technology wholesale three months after splashing out on a desktop PC refresh, he said.

“They can lock down [thin client] machines as much as they like and they only use 11 watts of power, compared to 70 to 110 watts for a PC, which most people only use for Word and email,” he added.