PC Shipments up 20 percent in 2010 – Gartner

Mini-notebooks are again forecast to boost mobile PC growth in 2010, but their contribution is expected to decline noticeably afterwards, as they face growing competition from new ultra-low-voltage (ULV) ultraportables and next-generation tablets. Desk-based PC shipment growth will be minimal and limited to emerging markets."

Gartner reported that mobile PCs accounted for 55 per cent of all shipments in 2009 and it predicted that by 2012 they will account for nearly 70 per cent of shipments."

"User requirements are clearly segmenting, and the mini-notebook proved this point," said Ranjit Atwal, principal analyst at Gartner. "Vendors can no longer afford to just think in terms of traditional PC form factors or architectures.

The development of applications delivered over the web means many users "no longer need a traditional PC running a resident general-purpose operating system and fast x86 CPU to satisfy their computing needs," he added.