Gartner lowers PC forecast  
ConvergenceAsia staff
07/03/2011

Gartner is lowering its PC unit forecast for 2011 and 2012, based on expectations of weaker demand for mobile consumer PCs. Worldwide PC shipments are forecast to reach 387.8 million units in 2011, a 10.5 per cent increase from 2010, according to Gartner's preliminary forecast. This is down from Gartner's previous projection of 15.9 per cent growth this year.

Gartner expects worldwide PC shipments to total 440.6 million units in 2012, a 13.6 per cent increase from 2011. This is down from Gartner's previous outlook of 14.8 per cent growth for 2012.

"These results reflect marked reductions in expected near-term unit growth based on expectations of weaker consumer mobile PC demand, in no small part because of the near-term weakness expected in China's mobile PC market, but also because of a general loss in consumer enthusiasm for mobile PCs," said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner.

Gartner analysts said that consumer mobile PCs have been the dynamic growth engine of the PC market over the past five years, averaging annual rates of growth approaching 40 per cent. For much of this period, mobile PCs remained consumers' platform of choice for bringing the Internet into their daily lives. However, due to the spread of low-cost embedded Wi-Fi modules, Internet access is now available through a multitude of mobile devices that allow consumers to engage in virtually all their favourite online activities without the need of a mobile PC.

"We expect growing consumer enthusiasm for mobile PC alternatives, such as the iPad and other media tablets, to dramatically slow home mobile PC sales, especially in mature markets," said George Shiffler, research director at Gartner.

"We once thought that mobile PC growth would continue to be sustained by consumers buying second and third mobile PCs as personal devices. However, we now believe that consumers are not only likely to forgo additional mobile PC buys but are also likely to extend the lifetimes of the mobile PCs they retain as they adopt media tablets and other mobile PC alternatives as their primary mobile device. Overall, we now expect home mobile PCs to average less than 10 per cent annual growth in mature markets from 2011 through 2015."

The professional market is expected to continue to exhibit double-digit growth in 2011 and 2012, as aging PCs are replaced across all regions of the world. "However, even in the professional market, media tablets are being considered as PC substitutes, likely at least delaying some PC replacements," said Raphael Vasquez, senior research analyst at Gartner.

The dramatic rise in the popularity of alternative devices and the limitations of the PC are two of many dynamics that played a significant role in Gartner's revised outlook for the PC industry.

Media tablets causing hesitation among potential PC buyers
Consumer enthusiasm for media tablets is a key factor in Gartner's forecast that the consumer mobile PC market will remain weak in mature markets. Consumer substitution of media tablets for mobile PCs already appears to be impacting mobile PC shipments in mature markets. However, a bigger issue seems to be that consumers are taking a "wait and see" attitude toward PCs as they anticipate the arrival of new media tablets during the rest of 2011.

PCs' limitations are exposed
Not too long ago, PCs were a "fashion accessory" in mature markets with vendors linking themselves to fashion designers and even creating PCs specifically for women. The current "cool" device is the smartphone, and now PCs will soon have to do battle with media tablets when they are launched in large numbers in the second quarter of 2011. Up to now, the appeal of mobile PCs has been their portability. But mainstream mobile PCs have not shed sufficient weight, and do not offer the all-day battery life, to substantiate their promise of real mobility. These limitations have become all the more apparent with the rapid spread of social networking, which thrives on constant and immediate connections. In short, all-day untethered computing has yet to materialise, and that has exposed the "mobile" PC as merely a transportable PC at best.

More information is available in the report "Forecast Alert: PC Forecast Is Lowered as Consumers Diversify Computing Needs Across Devices," which can be found on Gartner's website at http://www.gartner.com/resId=1558714.

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