PC Sales Hot For 2004, But Will Soon Cool Off
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PC shipments in the second quarter grew faster than any three-month period since 1999, IDC said Monday, citing the continued pent-up demand for replacement systems as the driving force behind the sales surge.
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PC shipments have started to ease off, as expected, but the worldwide PC market remained fairly strong in the third quarter, according to research from IDC and Gartner Inc. released Monday.
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(InfoWorld) - Even as PC sales continue double-digit growth, industry revenue is likely to decline 2.5 percent to US$198.5 billion in 2006, according to a forecast released Friday by Gartner Inc. Worldwide PC shipments are scheduled to rise 10.5 percent over last year, reaching 233.7 million units. The disparity comes because PC vendors have been slashing the prices of desktops and notebooks as they hustle to compete with each other. Another force pushing computer prices down is a series of recent price cuts by Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. on their processors, the most expensive part of a PC. Now, as the holiday sales season approaches, things could get even worse for vendors like Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. In additional to wrestling with each other, they will also have to compete with consumer electronics companies, said George Shiffler, a research director at Gartner. Shoppers have a limited number of dollars to spend on electronics. That spells trouble for PC vendors since the price of a low-end desktop is comparable to a smartphone and its accompanying service contract, he said. Flat panel TVs will also compete with PCs, since excess production capacity has lowered LCD (liquid crystal display) prices and producers are expected to cut prices further with aggressive holiday discounts. Even Microsoft Corp.'s impending launch of the new Vista OS will produce only a temporary rise in sales, Shiffler said. The Gartner study echoes weak financial results at Dell, the world's largest PC vendor. Dell blamed cost cutting and weak demand for $14.1 billion in revenue for the quarter ended Aug. 4. That number was up only 5 percent over the same period last year although Dell sold 11.6 percent more computers worldwide, climbing from 8.7 million in the second quarter of 2005 to 9.7 million this year. Looking past 2006, the flood of low-cost PCs will drive brisk sales in emerging markets through 2008, but mature markets like the U.S. will soon slump to single-digit growth, Gartner said.
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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Sales for semiconductor manufacturing equipment is expected to rise sharply in 2004, but decline slightly in 2005, according to a year-end consensus forecast released late Tuesday by the industry&#39;s largest trade group.
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Dell, Gateway and HP are making another run at consumer electronics for the 2004 holiday season.
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Although sales figures for the holiday shopping season are not yet available, analysts expect electronics to be among the best-selling categories.
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Researcher IDC has raised its estimate for the number of PCs that will be sold in 2004, saying it now expects sales of 176.5 million units, the company said Monday.
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PC shipments have started to ease off, as expected, but the worldwide PC market remained fairly strong in the third quarter, according to research from IDC and Gartner.
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Two weeks ago Reuters released an article suggesting that the PC industry was on the decline. The story referenced a report from technology research company Gartner, which had previously
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MANHASSET, NY - Global PC unit shipments for the September 2004 fiscal quarter grew by 9.7 percent over a year ago, below market guidance for 12 percent growth and indicative of a weakening market for desktop PCs, according to market research firm
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A surge in sales of Windows-based PCs and laptops, prompted by the release of Vista, could push down Apple's market share in the first quarter of the year, according to Piper Jaffrey analyst Gene Munster.
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Prices are likely to drop as more outlets, including PC vendors, get into the market.
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(InfoWorld) - PCs running Microsoft'sÂ new Windows Vista operating systemÂ got a cool response from consumers in Japan during their first month on sale, according to data published Tuesday. Sales of desktop and laptop computers from brand-name makers in February were 1.2 percent higher than the same month in 2006, said BCN. The company came up with its figure after analyzing point-of-sales system data from about 560 specialist PC and electronics shops that are part of 12 retail chains. The entire market was up 6 percent thanks to better demand for white-box PCs made by computer stores and for motherboards. The jump in the brand-market was smaller than expected by market watchers, who thought the launch of the long-awaited operating system on Jan. 30 would give the PC market more of a kick. Better sales had been expected in part because consumers had shown a lack of interest in new PCs in the months prior to Vista's launch. In October, sales were down 21 percent compared to the previous year. In November, they were 22 percent lower, in December 19 percent down and in January 14 percent below the same month in 2006. The little strength there was in the brand-name market came from increased sales of laptops, sales of which were up 9.3 percent on a unit basis for the month, said BCN. The desktop sector was down 13.8 percent on the year. Despite the apparently lackluster response from Japanese consumers, Microsoft and two major PC makers have in the last 24 hours given the Vista launch votes of confidence. "We're actually pretty happy with how the launch has gone so far," said Darren Huston, president and CEO of Microsoft's Japan unit, at a news conference on Monday. The same day Walt Mayo, corporate director of Dell Japan's home and business sales division, said in an interview that the Vista launch has been "good overall." On Tuesday Richard Walker, head of Hewlett Packard's consumer PC division, said sales of Vista PCs were "strong" in the global market. He didn't have any data specific to the Japanese market. "We're definitely ahead of our plan as far as Vista is concerned," he said. Among Vista sales demand for the premium versions has been greater than anticipated, said Microsoft's Huston. "That was actually a good, positive surprise for us," he said.
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Sales of new homes rose to an all-time high in 2004, the fourth straight annual record. But activity in December barely budged after a big drop the previous month, suggesting the nation's red-hot housing market may finally be cooling.
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com September 12, 2004, 9:00 PM PT. With the economy slowly turning up, upgrading hardware has been on businesses radar in the past 12 months as their number two priority.
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TVs, MP3s and even PCs all saw gains in 2004, says a CEA report. The coming year should see an equally large lift.
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Lower prices and improved laptop performance will fuel continued growth in PC sales this year and next, says the market analysis firm.