IDC has upgraded its UK PC sales forecast for the year onthe back of sustained growth in consumer netbooks but the relatively low priceof these devices will drag down the overall market’s value.
In a year characterised by plummeting shipments, the analystexpects total sales to fall by 3.3% in 2009, compared to a decline of 4.2%predicted in May.
“The slight improvement is due to the continued growth inportables,” said Eszter Morvay, IDC research manager, adding that mobile PCs inretail are set to rise 21%, up from the 16% it previously stated.
Unit sales of commercial and consumer desktops are expectedto drop 22% and 15% respectively, while commercial notebooks are touted todecline 13%.
“Businesses are still struggling to get credit and budgetshave been frozen, a lot of companies have postponed renewals of machines,” shetold MicroScope.
Last year, the consumer mobile segment grew 60% so growthlevels are less than half of what they were.
Perhaps of more concern is that IDC expects mainstreamnotebooks sales to be flat this year on 2008 as the netbook takes centre stage,with growth of 113% expected.
This will significantly impact the overall value of the UK market whichis forecast to drop 18% to 6.7bn Euros (£5.8bn). Split by category, desktop andnotebook revenues are forecast to fall 25% and 15% respectively on last year.
Average sales prices for desktops are expected to drop 7% ondesk-based PCs and 19% on portables.
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