PC Market Returns To Positive Growth, Though Gains Remain Small, According to IDC - prUS23433412. How Will PCs Sales Grow in 2012? Sloooooowly. - Arik Hesseldahl. The worldwide business of PCs is still growing but it’s growing a lot slower than it used to, says the market research firm Garnter, in a forecast out today. While 368 million units — the number Gartner reckons will be sold this year — seems like an awful lot, it amounts to growth of only 4.4 percent over 2011. The economy — Europe is still weak amid ongoing sovereign debt problems, plus supply chain troubles brought on by the flooding in Thailand where most of the world’s hard drives are made — is weighing the market down, Gartner says.
What will save it? Windows 8 and Ultrabooks, but not before 2013, when Gartner says to expect sales of 400 million PCs. They might stimulate renewed interest among consumers and businesses. But it’s hard to say. What about Apple’s iPad and other tablets running Android eating into PC sales? PC shipment growth to slow in 2011, jump in 2012 | The Digital Home. Although PC shipments will be up over last year, growth will slow by the end of the year, research firm IDC reported today. According to the research firm, total PC shipments, including desktops and portables, will hit 356.9 million this year, up 2.8 percent compared to 2010. That gain is due to the strength of emerging markets around the world.
This year, IDC expects desktop PC shipments to grow 5.2 percent, and portable PC shipments to jump 18.7 percent in emerging markets, such as Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. All told, shipments will rise 12.1 percent. In mature markets, including the U.S. and Western Europe, total PC shipments will be down 7.2 percent to 154.7 million, compared to 2010 when 166.7 million PCs hit store shelves. Related stories: Growth in PC shipments turns anemic, researcher says Tablets, other factors to dampen 2011 PC shipments Yes, tablets are hurting PC sales...kind of. Can HP Still Deliver for Investors? - Arik Hesseldahl - Enterprise. With so many changes rocking the top managerial ranks at Hewlett-Packard during the last year, investors have punished the stock.
About 18 months ago, HP shares were trading for more than $53. Today they’re trading at roughly half that. Now that new HP CEO Meg Whitman has decided to keep the PC business rather than spin it out as her predecessor Léo Apotheker had proposed, HP appears to be heading back, however slowly, toward the kind of stability for which it had long been known. But can it still perform? Part of his assumption is that HP uses about $4 billion of its $8-$10 billion in annual free cash flow for share buybacks, which will help goose earnings on a per-share basis by reducing the number of outstanding shares; plus another $3 billion annually for acquisitions, buying companies at reasonable multiples of about five times revenue.
So how does each sector of HP’s business look? So what’s the risk to all this? What is the future of the PC Industry? As I perused the recent PC shipment numbers from last quarter and saw that they were rather anemic and with relatively slow growth forecast in the future, it became even more evident to me that we are at a major inflection point in our journey with personal computers. We started this journey in the 1950’s with mainframes and then went on to minicomputers. But with both of these technologies, only a limited amount of people had access to them. But when the PC came on the scene, it democratized the computing experience and made it possible for millions of users to experience the virtues of a computer. At each point in history, as we moved from mainframes-to-mini’s-to PC’s, we have had a major inflection point in which one technology faded from the forefront and the one’s following it took center stage. But even as we moved from one computing design to another, the older technology matured and took a different place in our digital world.
PC Era says, 'I'm not dead yet. Getting better.' August 23, 2011, 12:51 PM — When HP announced they were getting out of the PC business, the "PC Era Is Dead" stories started popping up all over the place. Why? The tech world, full of people looking for the newest toys (ooh, shiny), has always been unhappy with what is doing work today and yearns for what is new. It doesn't hurt the "PC is dead" argument, or at least the "PC is passe" argument, that iPad attracted well-heeled early adopters who make a lot of noise. Remind anyone of this Monty Python scene? On GigaOm, "The End of the PC era" story quotes projections of 60 million tablets sold this year, and up to 90 million next. A year ago, Steve Jobs compared PCs to the trucks needed when everyone lived the rural life, but now, in the city, everyone drives cars.
People will always need to get work done, and for the most part, that means a personal computer more than a tablet. PCs still do the work No storage, No mouse, No keyboard, No horsepower = No use for me.chosenson on pcworld.com. Intel CEO: We're Big in Brazil, And Lots of Other Places - Arik Hesseldahl. It’s turning into a recurring theme. Market research firms like Gartner and IDC warn about a slowing market for PCs. Investors and financial analysts get all depressed and think the market for PCs is tanking, and blame Apple’s iPad and other factors. Then Intel shows up with an earnings report that defies that now-conventional wisdom. What gives? The research firms don’t have access to the same kinds of sales-channel data that Intel does, especially when it comes to emerging markets.
Namely Brazil, Turkey, Russia and other rapidly developing revenue streams. Intel CEO Paul Otellini called this “channel revenue” during the conference call with analysts. This channel revenue grew 17 percent during the quarter, Otellini said, because demand for PCs remains healthy in these countries. But then there’s Brazil. Later, Otellini and Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith addressed this issue in response to a question from Evercore analyst Patrick Wang. Intel-q2-2011-call by ahess247. Andy Grove: How America Can Create Jobs. Recently an acquaintance at the next table in a Palo Alto (Calif.) restaurant introduced me to his companions, three young venture capitalists from China. They explained, with visible excitement, that they were touring promising companies in Silicon Valley.
I've lived in the Valley a long time, and usually when I see how the region has become such a draw for global investments, I feel a little proud. Not this time. I left the restaurant unsettled. Something did not add up. Bay Area unemployment is even higher than the 9.7 percent national average. The underlying problem isn't simply lower Asian costs. Friedman is wrong. The scaling process is no longer happening in the U.S. What Went Wrong? Scaling used to work well in Silicon Valley. I am fortunate to have lived through one such example. Not far from Intel's headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., other companies developed. As time passed, wages and health-care costs rose in the U.S. The 10X Factor Already the decline has been marked. Intel Opens $300 Million Fund for ‘Ultrabook’ Laptop Push.
Intel Corp. (INTC), the world’s largest chipmaker, said it will invest as much as $300 million to back the development of technology to speed up the introduction of notebook computers it’s calling “ultrabooks.” Intel will put the money in companies building hardware and software to create thinner, lighter laptops that can go all day without a battery charge, the Santa Clara, California-based company said in a statement. The investments will take place over the next three to four years. Intel, whose processors run more than 80 percent of the world’s computers, is trying to fire up demand by adding some of the features that have made Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPad tablet and its competitors a threat to personal-computer sales. The first ultrabooks will appear by the end-of-year holiday shopping season, an effort that will require collaboration among the whole PC industry, Intel said. Intel rose 30 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $20.23 at 9:33 a.m. China Overtakes U.S. in PC Shipments. China has reached yet another milestone in its rise as a consumer of technology by becoming the biggest market for personal computers.
In the second quarter, manufacturers shipped 18.5 million PCs in China compared with 17.7 million in the United States, according to IDC, a market research firm. It is the first time that shipments in China have exceeded those in the United States. The shift reflects China’s growing appetite for electronics and the increasing wealth of its huge population. However, it is likely just a temporary phenomenon — at least this year. The United States is expected to remain the top market for the full year with 73.5 million PC shipments versus 72.4 million in China, IDC said.
Shipments in the United States typically rise in the fourth quarter because of the holidays — offsetting a slower pace the rest of the year — while China’s contracts after the traditional summer discounts. In 2012, however, China is expected to lead the annual ranking. China Overtakes U.S. in Global PC Market - John Paczkowski. An inevitable and unsurprising milestone: China has finally surpassed the U.S. in both PC sales and shipments, according to International Data Corporation.
In the second quarter of 2011, PC sales in China reached $11.9 billion; PC shipments rose 14.3 percent year over year to 18.5 million units. Meanwhile, PC sales in the States slipped to $11.7 billion, and shipments dropped 4.9 percent to 17.7 million units. This is the first time China has overtaken the U.S. to become the world’s largest market for personal computers, and while it’s not likely to hold that title on a full-year basis in 2011, thanks to the holiday buying season in the States, it will probably claim it in 2012.
“China’s lead in the PC market is a huge shift that reflects the rising fortunes of emerging markets as well as the relative stagnation of more mature regions,” IDC VP Loren Loverde said in a statement. China passes US as world's biggest PC market. Updated: 2011-08-24 13:18 By OWEN FLETCHER and SUE FENG (Wall Street Journal) BEIJING - China for the first time has passed the US to become the world's biggest personal-computer market, highlighting the growing importance of a country where big US PC makers have struggled to compete against China's Lenovo Group Ltd. The shift underlines rapid industry changes in the PC industry world-wide.
Consumer demand for PCs has soared in emerging markets, while it has faltered in developed markets. Meanwhile, the rise of smartphones and tablet computers, most notably Apple Inc's iPhone and iPad, has raised concerns that purchases of such products could eat into demand for traditional desktop and laptop PCs. Reflecting those challenges, Hewlett-Packard Co, which is the world's biggest PC maker but has lost popularity with Chinese consumers, last week said it is considering a sale or spinoff of its personal-computer business.
Tech companies also are boosting their presence in China. PrUS22997711. Microprocessor Intel Flips Online Reporting Model. Technology reporting in the mainstream media has experienced a reboot since the go-go 1990s. But the microprocessor giant Intel still has stories it wants to tell; a rich history, more than a few brilliant employees, and a front row seat for the future of computing. So last October the company launched Intel Free Press, a news-style way of reporting on itself. You won’t find the same news releases, videos and blog posts that the company distributes via its usual media relations channels; it’s all exclusive features and behind-the-scenes content – text and video – that allow managing editor Bill Calder and his staff to exercise the journalistic muscles they developed earlier in their careers.
They’re upfront that it’s all the news that’s fit to print -and stream – from Intel’s perspective, and Calder says that’s vital for any business that wants to get deeper into content marketing/brand journalism. The aforementioned transparency. Above all else, surprise people. China Surpasses U.S. as World's Biggest PC Market.