The PC industry received double-digit growth in 2005 according to a new study by Gartner. InfoWorld has a report on the new study.
Gartner estimated 218.5 million PCs were shipped in 2005 while IDC said it believes worldwide PC shipments totaled 208.6 million units. Both companies count desktops, mobile computers and x86-based servers in their figures and both said the data is provisional.
"The general good news is that it's another strong quarter," said Loren Loverde, director of IDC's PC Tracker research. Despite long-standing concerns about weakening consumer PC sales, shipments have grown more than 17 percent above 2004's totals for the past three quarters running, he said.
The Europe, Middle East, and Africa region (EMEA) came out on top of Gartner's regional ranking for the first time to become the largest PC market worldwide. Shipments in EMEA totaled 72.6 million in 2005, a 17.1 percent jump on 2004 and several million units ahead of the U.S. market, which was estimated to have seen 67.2 million shipments in the year. U.S. market growth was pegged at 7.5 percent, which was well below the worldwide average of 15.3 percent.
Of course the bad news for PC manufacturers and retailers is that sales are expected to slow. However, demand for mobile computing devices should continue to be strong.
