Worst ever PC sales slump predicted for 2009
Global PC sales could fall by almost 12 percent this year according to a forecast by analysts. If true it would be the biggest slump ever – and only the second annual drop since the PC went mainstream.
The only other time sales fell year on year was in 2001 which saw a 3.1 percent drop. That was blamed on businesses cutting back on spending; this time around it looks as if consumers will also be buying fewer machines.
Gartner, the analyst firm making the prediction, says the big difference this time around is that consumers are much more prepared to put off new purchases and struggle along with an existing machine. Even though far more people use computers today, particularly with the growth of high-speed Internet use, it appears that a brand new, high-spec machine is still seen as a luxury purchase.
That’s particularly bad news for manufacturers in mature markets such as leading Western countries, where 80 percent of computers are bought as direct replacements for older machines. Gartner’s Ranjit Atwal says that in tough financial times, “if your PC slows down, doesn’t work well, doesn’t do what you think it should do, you’ll live with it.”
If Gartner’s predictions are correct, it’s desktop computers which will be hardest hit, with an expected drop in sales of 30 percent.; laptop sales would rise by 9 percent under the forecast. The financial implications could be even worse than the raw sales figures: many of the extra laptop sales are expected to be for low-cost netbooks.
There are already hard figures to back up the trend Gartner predicts. Sales in the US and Asia have already begun slumping and it appears only comparatively strong performance in developing markets such as Brazil and India have stopped global sales dropping already.
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March 3rd, 2009
Apple still seems to be doing ok, I think they are still gaining market share.