With credit in a tight squeeze and the economy in free fall, the next few years should see the collapse of some small PC makers and a restructuring of the rest of the industry, according to an industry research firm.
Richard Shim, personal computing research manager at IDC, told Computerworld that he expects a consolidation of the market. However, he doesn't think that the big PC players, like Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Acer, will gobble up smaller hardware vendors. Instead, he said those smaller players will simply fold up shop as the faltering economy keeps companies and individuals from buying new computers.
[ Special report: IT and the financial crisis. ]
"It won't be so much about acquisition, but the smaller players will just go away," said Shim, adding that he thinks the industry could lose fewer than 10 companies. "The big players are feeling the hurt as well. Right now, everybody is beating each other up in price. If some are going to die off anyway, what's the sense in buying them?"
Just yesterday, IDC reported it is projecting that worldwide PC sales will quickly drop off because the sagging economy is causing people to hold onto their savings while credit is unavailable. IDC noted that it expects PC shipments to inch upward by 3.8 percent in all of 2009, but added that the values of those shipments will drop by 5.3 percent. In the U.S., expectations are bleaker as IDC predicts that shipments here will decline by almost 3 percent in 2009 with low single-digit increases in the next few years.
Shim noted that he thinks MPC kicked off the consolidation early in November when the PC maker filed for bankruptcy. In mid 2001, the business was sold by parent company Micron Technology, and later changed its name from Micron Electronics to MPC. A little more than a year ago, MPC bought Gateway's professional business division.
And MPC won't be the only mid- to low-tier PC maker to fall, according to Shim. He said 2009, 201,0 and maybe even 2011 will be tough years for the industry.
Just a few weeks ago, iSuppli slashed its 2009 growth forecast for worldwide PC shipments by nearly two-thirds because of the deteriorating economy. The analyst firm is now projecting that worldwide PC shipments will rise by 4.3 percent in 2009, down from its previous forecast of 11.9 percent growth. iSuppli also adjusted its expectations for 2010, dropping its initial prediction of 9.4 percent growth to 7.1 percent.
This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.
Download now »Server virtualization is a popular option for dealing with mounting datacenter costs. Another equally promising approach is the use of an Application Delivery Controller. Citrix NetScaler provides a low-cost way for organizations to reduce their server count and accrue cost savings from a reduction in space, cooling, power and personnel.
Download now »
The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.
Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation
Effectively address data protection challenges, implementing solutions that help store and protect businesscritical data while cutting costs and improving efficiency and reliability.
Download now »
Sign up to receive Business Resource Alerts
