14 DAY TRIAL // As technology advances, it is natural for certain market segments to lose in importance, and it seems a particularly big one is going through some rough times because of game consoles and tablets.
That the PC market is suffering because of the rise of slates is not exactly a new thing, and Gartner just confirmed it again.
Apparently, while PC sales during the fourth quarter of 2010 did exceed those of the same period of 2009, they fell short of predictions.
Analysts expected a 4.8 percent on-year growth, but the final figure returned just a 3.1% jump, meaning 93.5 million units.
As mentioned, tables sales ate up some of consumers' budgets, while game consoles also saw some increase in popularity at the expense of computers.
“Overall, holiday PC sales were weak in many key regions due to the intensifying competition in consumer spending,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.
“Media tablets, such as the iPad, as well as other consumer electronic (CE) devices, such as game consoles, all competed against PCs.”
“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,” the analysts added.
“For all 2010, the results indicate the PC market recovered from the recession, as it returned to double-digit growth, compared to low single-digit growth in 2009. However, the PC market will face challenges going forward with more intensified competition among consumer spending,” Mikako Kitagawa went on to saying.
HP, of course, maintained first place as PC vendor, followed by Acer, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba.
Oddly enough, this seems to contradict IDC's finds, which place Dell on second place in terms of marketing performance, although the idea that tablets are affecting PCs stands.
On the other hand, Gartner did find Dell had second place well in hand on the US PC market.