The PC market is showing signs of recovery, with the freefall of PC shipments skidding to a halt thanks to competitive PC prices and a continued interest in netbooks, Gartner said on Thursday
Gartner said that PC shipments will decline due to the continued effects of the global recession, but at a slower rate than originally expected. Worldwide PC shipments are expected to fall by six per cent in 2009 compared to the previous year, an upgrade from the 6.6 per cent decrease earlier projected by Gartner.
That will set the stage for a healthy market recovery in 2010, when PC shipments will grow by 10.3 per cent, said George Shiffler, principal analyst at Gartner. A strong first quarter helped stabilize PC shipments in 2009, and Gartner is projecting a strong fourth quarter.
“By that time we expect the global economy to be on the recovery path. Once the economy is on a sounder footing, the demand will be strengthened,” Shiffler said. Demand for PCs has been more resilient than originally thought, with buyers responding to the falling prices of PCs, he said.
“We’ve pierced new price points for laptops, and not surprisingly, people are responding to that,” Shiffler said.
Netbooks triggered new lows in laptop prices of under US$300, Shiffler said. That pricing pressure is now trickling into mainstream laptops, which have seen prices hover around $500, dropping below $400 in some instances, he said.
Netbooks are looking more like mainstream laptops as they get more expensive with larger screen sizes and keyboards, Shiffler said. At the same time, the prices of mainstream laptops are falling, which blurs the line between both the laptop categories.
But anecdotal evidence also suggests that people are finding out that netbooks have limited capabilities and are not substitutes for full-screen laptops, Shiffler said. That could drive some people back to buying mainstream laptops, he said.
Also challenging netbooks are ultrathin laptops, which are low-end, thin and light laptops priced starting at $500. However, ultrathin laptops have just hit the market, so their impact on netbooks cannot be assessed.