Consumers are slowing down on PC purchases as corporations ramp up their purchases, according to the latest data from market researcher IDC. Slackening consumer demand will help lower expectations for the market in the second half of 2004 and into 2005, IDC said.
But for the full year, IDC believes shipment growth will exceed previous expectations. PC shipments are now expected to grow 14.2 percent to reach 176.5 million units in 2004, IDC said. This is an increase from IDC's earlier prediction of 13.5 percent growth for the year, the Framingham, Massachusetts, firm said in a statement.
One of the best quarters for commercial PC sales in five years is responsible for the heightened expectations this year. PC shipments to business customers grew 17.2 percent in the second quarter compared to the same period last year--the best growth rate in that category that IDC has seen since the middle of 1999, the research firm said.
Consumers had kept the PC market afloat in 2002 and 2003 as corporations held off on replacing PCs bought in 1999 amid concern over the millennium bug. Over the last few quarters, those corporations have finally decided to replace their aging PCs. Consumer demand is set to decline without a compelling reason for consumers to upgrade systems they recently purchased.
Growth Predictions Slashed
IDC expects worldwide consumer growth to plunge from almost 20 percent in the second half of 2003 to just 9 percent in the second half of 2004. In 2005 the worldwide consumer segment is expected to grow just 8.7 percent for the full year.
Gartner also expects PC shipment growth to shrink over the next year or so. The Stamford, Connecticut, research company reduced its expectations for 2004 PC shipment growth in August, saying that PC vendors and chip makers that had expected stronger-than-average growth in the second half of the year were seeing only normal seasonal growth in PC shipments.
Intel lowered its third-quarter earnings expectations earlier this month, blaming a weaker worldwide market for the shortfall.
Growth rates in the PC market will naturally shrink as the industry moves beyond the recovery from the recessionary period in late 2001 and early 2002 when PC shipments declined from one year to the next, IDC said. It's difficult to sustain double-digit growth rates for an extended period of time, especially in a mature market such as PCs, it said.
The PC market is stronger outside of the United States, but the United States still accounts for the largest portion of the market, dragging down the future expectations. The economic recovery in Europe has trailed that of the United States, and any slowdown in European demand should also follow a slowdown in U.S. demand. However, growth in Europe will remain strong in 2004, IDC said.
IDC is a division of International Data Group Inc., the parent company of IDG News Service and PC World.
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