IDC: Worldwide computer shipments to increase by 16.7 in fourth quarter
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Dec 19, 2007 at 12:18pm
The IDC research group thinks that worldwide computer shipments will increase by 16.7 percent in the fourth quarter of this year, spurred by strong laptop sales, notes ComputerWorld.
The fourth quarter of 2007 is expected to fuel the year’s overall growth rate of 14.6 percent, up from 10.1 per cent in 2006, IDC reported.
“The peak portable growth seen in the third quarter will be difficult to sustain, but it reflects strong demand across regions and segments that will fuel growth going forward,” says Loren Loverde, director of IDC’s “Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker.” “It will be increasingly important for personal computer vendors to have a strong portable offering to stay competitive as the market continues its rapid shift to mobile computing.”
In the third quarter, worldwide laptop shipments grew 37 percent, a rate that even edged out several major quarters in 2003 and 2005, when growth hit 35 per cent or slightly more, notes ComputerWorld. The article adds that the move to laptops has taken a toll on worldwide desktop shipments. Global desktop volumes continue to increase, thanks mostly to sales in emerging countries, but that percentage is in the low single digits.
Overall, however, the growth differential between desktops and laptops has never been larger. IDC reported that in the third quarter, laptop sales growth was more than 33 percentage points over desktop growth. That differential has not been more than 30 percent since 1996. The laptop share of client PCs nearly hit 45 per cent in the third quarter and is expected to reach 50 per cent by the end of 2008, IDC added.
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
