Sales Growth for PCs Expected to Remain at 10% for Next Four Years

Taipei, April 6, 2006 (CENS)--Affected by the slowdown in sales of desktop models, annual sales growth for the personal-computer sector will likely stand at around 10% for the next four years, said S.H. Chin, deputy CEO of the Market Intelligence Center (MIC) under the government-backed Institute for Information Industry.

Chin noted that owners would replace PCs in the years to come to take advantage of third-generation communications equipment, as well as to play more demanding multimedia files.

Well-know market researcher International Data Center predicted that annual sales growth for the PC sector, including desktop and notebook models, would slip to 10% in the next few years from last year's 15%.

Chin said the delayed introduction of Microsoft's Vista operation system would have a limited impact on PC replacements, because there will be six versions of Vista released, and PC users will require time to learn the new operating system.

MIC estimated the annual growth for the PC industry would reach 9.9% in 2007, 10.3% in 2008, and 9.8% in 2009. The center said PC shipments would reach 270 million units worldwide in 2009.

Despite the moderate annual growth of 10% projected for the entire PC industry, MIC predicted the notebook PC sector would be able to maintain an annual growth of between 15% and 20% over the next few years. Many own-brand manufacturers of NBs are beginning to develop products integrating mobile communications and multimedia applications.

Although consumers currently rely on "hot spots" to access wireless Internet connections, some foreign firms have developed 3G network cards, allowing NB users to hook up to Internet services anywhere there is a 3G cellphone network. For instance, Acer and Vodafone are now cooperating to integrate 3G communication services with NBs.