Of all the industries feeling the heat in the current recession, PC retail must be as close as any to the centre of the flames.
PC dealers have traditionally been under great pressure to make a living over the last decade but the recession is piling on the pressure even more. Yet there is a bright spot among the gloom: the small form factor notebook segment - in particular netbooks.
Gartner predicted that by the end of 2009, 257 million units will have been shipped, an 11.9% decline compared with 2008.
With desktop sales apparently falling off a cliff, Gartner's one note of optimism was to be found in the mobile market which it predicted to rise by 2.7%. Yet digging deeper into the segment, Gartner expected notebook shipments to peak at 155.6m units this year, a 9% decline on 2008.
Gartner's analysis was shared by IDC who only a few days earlier had also predicted that the recession would kill the seemingly unending boom in notebook shipments. More optimistic than Gartner, IDC forecast notebook shipments to climb at 7.5% over 2009, not bad but worrying when compared to a 40% growth for 2008.
So good news anywhere? Step forward the humble netbook which both Gartner and IDC credits with being the great light hope for mobile computers in 2009. IDC believes that two million mini notebooks could be shipped in the
Netbooks' popularity should be apparent: they are the bedrock of firms' enterprise mobility needs by enabling business anytime anyplace and are cheap: for the time being.May be worth getting t his year's order in now.
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