Framingham, Mass. – International Data Corp. has dropped its PC shipments forecast for 2003 and now expects worldwide shipment to increase 6.9 percent, down from the 8.3 percent predicted in late 2002.
The change is primarily due to lower spending in the education and government sectors due to war jitters and budget constraints, said Loren Loverde, director of IDC’s worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. This will offset the expected moderate consumer growth and incremental gains anticipated from business purchases, he said.
The revised forecast now sees about 50.3 million computers shipping in the United States in 2003 with this figure growing to 55.5 million in 2004. Of these 18.8 million will ship to consumers this year, an 11.3 percent increase over 2001, and 20.7 million next year, a 10.2 percent increase.
Commercial computer shipments are expected to be slow and inch up just 2.9 percent in 2003, but IDC is predicting a big change in 2004 with a 10.2 percent increase.
Worldwide IDC forecasts consumer and commercial computer unit shipments to hit the 145 million mark this year, up 6.9 percent, and this will increase 10.6 percent to 161.1 million in 2004.
