Framingham, Mass.
– Consumers are spending more money per dollar on PC accessories than they are
on PCs, according to a study from IDC.
IDC’s “Beyond-the-Box”
survey reports that U.S. consumers spent at least $1.05 on PC accessories and
peripherals for every $1 spent on a PC in 2009, compared with $0.87 per dollar
the previous year. IDC said it expects U.S. consumers to spend at least $28.6
billion in 2010 on products and services to enhance their PC performance and
user experience.
“While security
and anti-spam software remained the most popular products, consumers continued
to focus their spending on PC performance enhancements, such as graphic cards
and additional memory and storage, as well as expanding their own user
experience with media creation products and software,” IDC said.
Although
brick-and-mortar sales dominate the PC and accessories market, users are
increasingly gravitating toward what IDC called a “web-centric environment.”
Cloud-based activities are also on the rise, it said.
When asked by
TWICE what effect the rise of iPads and other tablet computers would have on
the PC accessories market, David Daoud, IDC research director, said, “If
anything, the proliferation of devices such as iPads, netbooks, ultra-thin
laptops, etc. will accelerate the use of accessories for a variety of reasons.
The most obvious is the need to interconnect all these devices and synch them
with an ever-growing ecosystem of peripherals, including, by the way, a growing
base of Internet-ready television sets.
“Think of the plethora of digital cameras,
camcorders, keyboards, photo printers, etc. There is also the need to carry and
protect these devices. Finally, Remember when iPod came out, it created a
brand-new industry around such things as carrying cases, headsets, iPod-specific
radio devices, speakers, etc … we are looking at bigger needs, and not less.”
