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Research firm Gartner slashed its growth forecast for the global PC market this
year to 3.8 percent from 9.3 percent, citing slower economies in Western Europe
and the United States, and a boom in media tablets.
The success of Apple‘s iPad has dented consumer demand
for personal computers, while the long-hoped for recovery in the corporate and
government PC replacement cycle has been derailed by the U.S. and European debt
crises and associated fallout.
“An increasingly pessimistic economic outlook is causing consumer and
business sentiment to deteriorate in both regions,” Ranjit Atwal, research
director at Gartner, said in a statement on Thursday.
Gartner said it expects consumer spending to tighten in response, while
business spending would also tighten but to a lesser degree.
“U.S. consumer PC shipments were much weaker than expected in the second
quarter, and indications are that back-to-school PC sales are disappointing,”
Atwal said.
The slowing, changing market has hit traditional leaders of the PC
market.
Hewlett-Packard stunned markets in August when saying
it may shed its PC business — the world’s largest after the $25 billion
acquisition of Compaq in 2002 — as part of a wrenching series of moves away
from the consumer market.
Related articles
- Tablet boom prompts Gartner to cut PC market view (huffingtonpost.com)
- Gartner predicts UK PC market nosedive for 2011 (go.theregister.com)
