It could be the beginning of the end for personal computers as tablets grow beyond secondary mobile devices and increasingly nudge traditional PCs off consumers’ shopping lists.
Stamford, Conn.,-based research firm Gartner has lowered its 2012 projection of PC sales to 40.6 million units. Although that figure represents a 13.6 percent increase over 2011, Gartner previously expected to see a more robust 14.8 percent growth this year. The lower forecast is being driven by weaker demand in China and “a general loss in consumer enthusiasm for mobile PCs.”
In a recent research note, Gartner noted that PCs have long been consumers’ primary portal to the Internet, leading to a rate of growth in the industry averaging near 40 percent. However, with cheaper devices such as e-readers, smartphones and tablets providing online access via Wi-Fi, the PC’s role has been diminished.
By comparison, at the end of 2010, Gartner estimated that the PC market had grown 13.8 percent over 2009.
‘Wait And See’ Attitude
Clearly, a major force in the change is Apple’s iPad, which broke open what had been a fledgling tablet market with only a few prototypes. The emergence of more and better tablets is giving consumers a wait-and-see attitude as laptops struggle to shed weight and become more portable to compete, Gartner wrote.
“We expect growing consumer enthusiasm for mobile PC alternatives, such as the iPad and other media tablets, to dramatically slow home mobile PC sales, especially in mature markets,” said George Shiffler, a research director at Gartner. While it once appeared that consumers would invest in multiple PCs, they now seem more likely to upgrade or repair the ones they already have as they adopt media tablets and other PC alternatives.
“Overall, we now expect home mobile PCs to average less than 10 percent annual growth in mature markets from 2011 through…