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PCs Are Still Sharing The Computer Market The market of Personal computers has crossed almost 30 years. But, in spite of being 3 decade old, the PCs still don’t seem to quit the market. Over these years, personal computers have shared a major part of the computer industry. Almost every brand has its own set of PCs supplied in the market. Many leading IT brands like HP, Intel, Microsoft, Apple, Acer and many more, had set their foothold in the industry with their PC supply chain. But, after the introduction of notebooks and netbooks, the PC market went low, and with the latest inflow of much advanced tablets and smartphones, the PC market seemed to diminish. However, only some of the companies took their hands back from the PC supply, while the rest still continue their service. The leading brand IBM, which had released its first PC model in 1981, has withdrawn its PC supply in 2004. The reason as mentioned in a blog by Mark Dean, CTO of IBM Middle East & Africa, was that IBM management thought that the PC era was over and people would opt for better options than the old and bulky PCs. Many other computer vendors also decided to quit the PC market and in order to implement this they took an integrated decision to exit the business all together so as to decrease the PC business by at least 25 percent. According to Prateek Garg, CEO, Progressive Infotech, “Last year, we decided to quit the PC business which contributed 60 percent to our top line. We only supplied to some pending projects. As a result, our top line dipped by around 28 percent during the fiscal. We felt that to sustain a decent bottom line it was important for us to reduce our dependence on PCs,” The PC market had grown enormously and reached double digits in the late eighties and nineties of the last millennium, and the first decades of this millennium. But, in the past two or three years, the annual sales of PCs have degraded to single digit numbers. As reported by IDC, it has lessened its expectations for worldwide PC shipments in 2011. The reason given was the growing market of smartphones and tablets. Bob O’Donnell, Vice-president, Clients & Displays, IDC explained the decision “Consumers are recognizing the value of owning and using multiple intelligent devices, and because they already own PCs they’re now adding smartphones, media tablets and e-readers to their device collection. This has shifted the technology share of wallets to other connected devices.” In spite of this downfall in its number, the PCs are still holding on in the market. Many experts say that the need will never end and there will be times when PCs will be the only solution for some problems. |
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