PC sales to "pick up by end of year"

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 26 Jun 2009 at 08:23

International analyst firm Gartner claims that PC sales are beginning to show signs of recovery.

The firm expects PC sales to start growing again by the fourth quarter, in the run up to Christmas.

The firm has also improved its forecast for PC sales in 2009, now predicting only a 6% decline compared to 2008. Earlier this year, Gartner estimated that 2009 sales would fall by 9.2%.

The company claims PC shipments are stronger than expected in all regions worldwide, except Eastern Europe.

Netbooks continue to prop up PC unit sales, although as Gartner admits, with ever-improving netbook specs and screen sizes "mini-notebooks are becoming just another value-based mobile-PC offering."

The analyst firm isn't holding out too much hope for Windows 7's effect on PC sales, however, claiming the effect of the OS's October arrival is likely to be "very modest".

"Although the buzz surrounding Windows 7 has generally been quite positive, we don't expect the market to significantly deviate from its normal seasonal trends in reaction to its release," claims George Shiffler, research director at Gartner.

"Unless Microsoft mounts a major marketing campaign in support of Windows 7, we think consumers will simply adopt the new operating system as they would normally buy new PCs and/or replace old ones.

"As for professional users, we still expect them to put off adopting the new OS for at least a year until they have fully tested their applications against it."