PC shipment growth slows as competition intensifies

Posted by Steven Gaskill

The global PC market continued to expand during 2010, although the rate of expansion fell short of expectations, it has been reported.

IT analyst Gartner revealed that shipments increased by 3.1 per cent on the previous quarter to reach 93.5 million units between October and December.

However, a slow Christmas trading period and competition from other web-enabled devices meant this growth rate failed to achieve the 4.8 per cent predicted.

Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner, noted that businesses had continued to invest in PC hardware, but many consumers looked to other devices during the autumn quarter.

"Media tablets, such as the iPad, as well as other consumer electronic devices such as game consoles competed against PCs," he explained.

"The bright side of the PC market during the fourth quarter of 2010 was a steady growth in the professional market driven by replacement purchases."

In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, 32 million PCs were shipped by manufacturers during the final quarter of the year.