You heard it here first folks, well maybe not first but two PC research firms, IDC and Gartner, have started patting themselves on the back over their prediction that we would see a slowdown in first quarter PC sales. It turns out though that they are now saying that the prediction was more positive that reality.
Of course this is according to the same two firms that are predicting that Windows Phone 7 will be in second place behind Android by 2015; but they are blaming the bigger decline than expected in part to the rise of the iPad, and other tablets.
IDC said global PC sales fell 3.2 percent compared with the first quarter of 2011, much worse than the 1.5 percent growth the firm had predicted. In the U.S., shipments fell 10 percent from the high demand seen in recent years.
Gartner said global sales fell 1.1 percent, below the 3 percent growth it had predicted. It blamed the decline on weak demand for consumer PCs.
“Low prices for consumer PCs, which had long stimulated growth, no longer attracted buyers. Instead, consumers turned their attention to media tablets and other consumer electronics,” Mikako Kitagawa, Gartner principal analyst, said in its release. “With the launch of the iPad 2 in February, more consumers either switched to buying an alternative device, or simply held back from buying PCs.”
via Seattle Times
Sorry but both IDC and Gartner are becoming more and more irrelevant as the Internet years go by.
