Desktops losing favour
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Growth of worldwide PC sales is declining.
16 February 2005 The number of businesses updating their desktop PCs is set to decrease over the next two years, as organisations look to invest in more flexible devices, according to IT analyst Gartner.
Worldwide PC shipments topped 183 million units in 2004 reported Gartner, an 11% increase on 2003. But that growth will slow to just 9% in 2005 it said.
PC replacements are typically fuelled by operating system requirements. With the next generation of Microsoft's Windows operating system, code-named Longhorn, not expected to ship until 2007, Gartner believes that businesses will put PC renewals on hold.
"We believe professional replacement activity peaked in 2004 and will decelerate sharply over 2005," said George Shiffler, principal analyst for Gartner's Client Platforms research.
Meanwhile, organisations are investing in alternatives to desktops. Gartner predicts that sales of mobile PCs (laptops and tablet PCs) will grow faster than those of desktops, driven by falling prices and an increasing desire for mobile devices.
This is reflected in sales of PDAs. In a separate study Gartner found that sales of PDAs rose 7% in 2004, driven primarily by the popularity of the BlackBerry email devices. Nearly half of the PDA devices shipped in 2004 offered wireless capabilities.
"PCs are handicapped by low interoperability with other media devices and poor aesthetics. This is hurting their ability to compete against alternative devices that are both cheaper and more readily connected to media sources," said Gartner analyst Kiyomi Yamada.
