The market has been foretelling the death of the traditional PC for some time, but it seems its demise might be nearer than many pundits thought, says Christopher Riley, MD of The Notebook Company.
“The PC market is shrinking rapidly now, as notebooks, tablets and other mobile devices, render it increasingly obsolete,” says Riley.
Indeed, things are looking uglier this year, in terms of PC sales, than originally predicted, he adds. Citi Research, for instance, has revised its forecast for negative PC growth, with data showing a rapidly shrinking PC market.
Citi told investors that it is cutting 2013 PC year-to-year growth to -10% from -4%.
“Demand is waning dramatically for PCs,” says Riley. “Everything is going mobile. There is less and less need, and allure, for a PC. Consumers are using everything that is mobile, including notebooks, tablets, e-readers and mobile wallets – and this growth is rapid. By next year there will be more mobile devices in use than there are humans on the planet.”
This translates more than 7-billion mobile devices.
“However, what one must realise is that the PC has really just morphed,” Riley says. “Today the smartphone and tablet PC is really the replacement for the old PC. In essence, therefore, the personal computer remains – it is still a personal computer.”