IDC sees 15% growth in PC shipments

IDC is projecting worldwide PC shipment growth of 15.2 percent in 2008, reaching 310 million units. The analysis firm predicts that growth will remain in the double-digits through 2010, followed by high single-digit growth through 2012, boosting annual shipments to over 472 million in 2012. Meanwhile, the fall in average PC selling price will be offset by an ongoing transition to sale of notebooks, which generally cost more than desktops. IDC's report also says that the Asia/Pacific region excluding Japan (APeJ) surpassed the United States as the region with the largest PC market in total annual shipments at the end of 2007.

Meanwhile the rest of the world, composed of Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Canada – is not far behind. As such, growth in emerging regions is expected to outstrip that of developed areas.

The analysts say: "Key factors driving the continuing strength of Portable shipments, even in the face of economic pressure, are a greater emphasis on replacing Desktops with Portables and the emergence of ultra low-cost notebook PCs, such as the Eee PC from ASUS, systems built on the Classmate PC platform by Intel, and the XO from the One Laptop Per Child initiative [...] Even as the PC market grapples with slower growth in more developed markets, adoption cycles for new operating systems, processors, and other components, and convergence of media and devices, the success of portable PCs continues to drive the market."

Filed under: computers
Other story tags: notebooks, japan, market, 2008, Sale, IDC