Global PC sales experienced a slowdown in the Q3 2008 due to the worldwide economic crunch but new category of cheap mini-notebooks is keeping the hope alive.
According to the research by Gartner Inc., global PC sales slowed down between July and September 2008. Low-cost notebooks pushed a major portion of 15.6% increase in the total units shipped.
The global PC shipments witnessed a growth of 80.6 Million Units during the period from July to September 2008 as compared to same period in 2007. In the US, overall PC shipments rose slightly 4.8% during the third quarter of 2008, regardless of lower prices offered by the manufacturers during back-to-school period.
The core reason for the sluggish growth in global PC sales is the crisis faced by the world economy. This economic crunch severely affected the professional market of the US. Also, the home market of the country faced a slowdown in PC sales followed by some quarters of sharp growth.
The PC sales are rising primarily because of constant growth in mobile PC sales that has more than compensated for the current fall in desktop PC sales. Notebook sales too dipped more than expected during the third quarter of 2008.
Keeping in view the financial worries of the worldwide consumers, a large number of less expensive computers were sold during the third quarter of current year. “Mini-notebooks” (Netbooks) is the most recent product category. Netbooks, that started to appear in the market in 2007, are comparatively less expensive laptops and their screens normally measures less than 10 inches diagonally.
One out of 20 laptops which were sold in the US during previous quarter was a mini-notebook. Regardless of unstable economy, the PC industry overall seems to be on a smooth track and the whole credit goes to the arrival of less expensive and underpowered netbooks.
Moreover, the five leading vendors in the US witnessed an increase in the number of shipments in 2008, but the small vendors faced a decline in their shipments.
According to the Research Analyst at RNCOS, “The global economic crisis led to the sluggish growth of worldwide PC sales during the third quarter of 2008. However, the global sales of mobile PCs are comparatively better. This trend is expected to continue due to declining average selling costs, which are likely to further go down in the coming quarters.”
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