∞ iPad causes Gartner to lower PC shipment outlook

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Market research firm Gartner on Monday lowered its forecast for worldwide PC shipments for 2010, citing the iPad as the cause.

[ad#Google Adsense 300x250 in story]Gartner said it expects PC shipments to come in at about 352.4 million, a 14.3 percent increase over 2009, but down from the 17.9 percent growth of the previous forecast in September.

“These results reflect marked reductions in expected near-term unit growth based on expectations of weaker consumer demand, due in no small part to growing user interest in media tablets such as the iPad,” said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. “Over the longer term, media tablets are expected to displace around 10 percent of PC units by 2014.”

Its research shows that PC shipments will reach 409 million units in 2011, a 15.9 percent gain over 2010, down from earlier estimates of 18.1 percent growth for the year.

“PCs are still seen as necessities, but the PC industry’s inability to significantly innovate and its overreliance on a business model predicated on driving volume through price declines are finally impacting the industry’s ability to induce new replacement cycles,” said George Shiffler, research director at Gartner. “As the PC market slows, vendors that differentiate themselves through services and technology innovation rather than unit volume and price will dictate the future. Even then, leading vendors will be challenged to keep PCs from losing the device ‘limelight’ to more innovative products that offer better dedicated compute capabilities.”


  • Anonymous

    Yet we see not only iPads but also MacBook Airs as PC disruptors. Both are flying off shelves worldwide in a host of retail settings, all the way from Apple down to WalMart, and everything in between! Gartner may just be too optimistic about the necessity of the PC still.

    • http://www.loopinsight.com Jim Dalrymple

      I wonder what will happen in the coming months as the iPad continues to sell.

  • Howie

    But this is just the beginning. The iPad is only the first device to start this move to new, more dedicated computing experiences. There is going to be a huge shift over the next 5-10 years to a very different technology landscape from the one that has been pretty stable over the last 20 yrs. The really interesting thing is that so far, MSFT and Intel don’t seem to be central to any of this new wave.