Gartner slashes PC shipment forecast

More doom and gloom as analyst downgrades growth expectations for both 2011 and 2012

Gartner has heaped more misery on the PC industry by cutting its global shipment forecasts for both 2011 and 2012.

The market watcher has slashed its shipment growth forecast from 9.3 per cent to 3.8 per cent for 2011, in response to shrinking demand in western Europe and the US.

The picture looks somewhat rosier for 2012, with Garner predicting better growth by the second half of next year as economies stabilise and new mobile PC form factors enter the market.

Despite this chink of light, the analyst still downgraded its 2012 shipment growth outlook from 12.8 per cent to 10.9 per cent, on the basis that the year would get off to a slow start.

This means total unit shipments will barely reach 400m units next year, which was originally a target for 2011.

Gartner research director Ranjit Atwal said: "Western Europe is not only struggling through excess PC inventory, but economic upheaval as well.

"US consumer PC shipments were much weaker than expected in the second quarter, and indications are that back-to-school PC sales are disappointing. An increasingly pessimistic economic outlook is causing both consumer and business sentiment to deteriorate in both regions."

Atwal said the rise of the PC-hating Generation Y spells more doom and gloom for the desktop and laptop market in the long term.

George Shiffler, research director at Gartner, added: "Media tablets have dramatically changed the dynamic of the PC market, and HP's decision to rethink its PC strategy simply highlights the pressure that PC vendors are under to adapt to the new dynamic or abandon the market."