Netbooks will be the saviour for shipments, thanks to these low-cost machines sales of notebooks are predicted to rise 9 percent this year. Netbook shipments are expected to double to 21 million units, up from 11.7 million units last year. Without netbooks, sales of mobile computers should rise just 3 percent in 2009.
Desktop PCs are the main issue, sales of desktops are expected to decline by a whopping 32 percent.
Gartner expects shipments of PCs to tumble 12 percent year-over-year to 257 million units. The previous low dip in sales followed the dot-com bust in 2001, when shipments fell 3.2 percent.Source: NY Times
“The PC industry is facing extraordinary conditions as the global economy continues to weaken, users stretch PC lifetimes and PC suppliers grow increasingly cautious,” said George Shiffler, research director at Gartner, in a statement.