Strong growth predicted in worldwide PC market
Shipments of PCs topped 52 million units during the last quarter, with more to come in 2007 and 2008
The worldwide PC market continued to grow in the second quarter of 2006, with a strong second half of the year predicted by analyst IDC.
IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker found that total worldwide PC shipments for the quarter topped 52 million units. This is year-on-year growth of 9.8 per cent.
Despite the growth, results for the quarter were 0.6 per cent lower than expected. However, IDC has forecast worldwide year-on-year growth of 10.5 per cent for the whole of 2006. It also predicted annual worldwide growth of 12 per cent in 2007 and 11.8 per cent in 2008.
The report covered desktops, notebooks, ultra portables and x86 servers, but not hand-helds.
Loren Loverde, director of IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, said: “Mature regions, such as the US, western Europe and Japan, are exhibiting more conservative growth trends, while developing regions are not only growing faster but also exceeding expectations.
“As a result, there’s plenty of opportunity for PC companies to grow, but they need to adequately target the growth segments in each region.”
Mike Lawrence, managing director of VAR Bentpenny, said: “If you look at the number of PC builders who have gone bust in the past six months, you can hardly call the PC market booming.”
Lawrence said there has been a huge swing away from people buying desktops, to buying notebooks.
“The future of PC shipments is all going to be governed by the uptake of Microsoft’s Vista operating system,” he said. “If people go for Vista the PC market will be buoyant. If they don’t and stick with XP, then the market will be fairly flat.”
Lawrence added that no particular vendor is doing well and even Dell has come under some pressure of late.
Nigel Wright, UK sales director at Hewlett-Packard reseller Abtech, said: “A lot of people are buying notebooks rather than desktops. Most people are also looking towards mobile devices, rather than being stuck at a desk.”