IDC predicts big rebound for PC market

Sales of portable PC devices helped worldwide PC sales grow by 2.9 percent in 2009, edging the industry into the black for the year, according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker.

The continued popularity of portable PCs had the biggest effect on this push, growing by 18.4 percent when compared with 2008 figures. IDC expects this growth to continue, to reach 21.4 percent in 2010 and 21.7 percent by 2011.

This growth in sales will account for the majority of overall PC sales too, which will rise from 333.2 million in 2010 to 531.3 million in 2014. By 2014, 398.1m will be accounted for by portable PCs and only 133.2m by desktop PCs.

Jay Chou, a research analyst with IDC, said that the positive results for PC sales reflected the lower prices PCs are now selling for, and the fact that PCs are a "must-have" product.

"With lean margins and further market consolidation a reality for the future, vendors are looking to a mix of volume and specialised products to grow revenues, including combinations of portability, performance and touch computing," he said.

This demand for PC devices means IDC expects to see double-digit growth in 2010 and for this strong trend to continue for the next five years.

IDC's predictions for the strong growth of portable devices follow hot on the heels of a report by Gartner that said it expected the launch of the Apple's iPad to herald an industry shift in sales from desktop PCs to handheld devices.

The firm said a fortnight ago that it expects sales of traditional and next-generation tablet devices to reach 10.5 million worldwide in the coming year, and to account for 70 per cent of all shipments of PCs worldwide by 2012.