There is definitely an ongoing shift in IT strategy in 2014, which is expected to lead to a bigger move away from the desktop to an inexorable support for mobile technology, says Asgar Mahomed, MD of Esquire Technologies.
According to a recent survey of 440 IT decision-makers in Europe, 36% says they would be implementing mobile initiatives during 2014. The survey further found that of the 440 people canvassed, 43% says they would be implementing tablet devices in their organisations during 2014, while 41% says they would be implementing smartphones.
“But this should come as no surprise to the market as there has been a continued decline in PC sales,” says Mahomed.
Gartner reported that PC shipments in Europe totalled 25,8-million units in the fourth quarter of 2013, a 6,7% decline from the same period in 2012.
The view is that the use of mobile computing in the enterprise is increasing is hard to contest. Supporting this is the fact that 121 out of 180 people (67%) says they would be deploying laptops, smartphones or tablet devices in 2014.
Of the remainder (33%), the majority of people canvassed (40%) says they had already deployed mobile devices, while 30% says that only certain departments would be supplied with mobile devices.
“Without a doubt PC sales will continue to decline, to be replaced by tablet and smartphone sales. However, the rate that desktop sales decline might even accelerate beyond market expectations,” says Mahomed.
But Mahomed did note that there was an upsurge in “back to school” sales of desktop PCs in SA in January, a trend that is likely to grow as schools continue to try and “arm students with technology”. He says he had also noted that Esquire’s resellers were making good sales into the education market. Price is always an issue, but when schools and colleges buy in volume, prices also drop- and in this category the laptop is still a good option.
“Our desktop PC sales to schools and colleges are certainly increasing. Laptop sales will definitely grow more than PC sales as the price point between laptops and desktop PCs are now almost equal.
“Interestingly, says Mahomed, “we sold more desktop PCs in the first quarter of this year than we did last year. But I think we are bucking the market trend here.”