New research has blamed a slump in PC sales on the rising popularity of tablets, in particular the Apple iPad.
Market analyst iSuppli notes that worldwide PC shipments amounted to 81.3 million units in the first quarter of 2011, down 0.3 percent from 81.6 million in the same period last year.
Three of the big five PC manufacturers took a hit, with Acer – ranked at three – suffering the most with shipments plunging by 20.4 per cent.
The firm has identified the meteoric consumer popularity of products like the iPad as the root cause, while steady corporate buying didn't manage to offset the trend.
“The increasing momentum of the media tablet market, led by the iPad, is creating a difficult environment for the PC industry,” said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for compute platforms research at IHS, owner of iSuppli. “All the attention surrounding tablets contributed to weak consumer demand for PCs in the first quarter.”
“IHS believes that the jury is still out on exactly how much tablets are cannibalizing PC sales. However, the rising number of tablet models on the market, along with certain high-profile product launches during the first quarter, caused confusion among consumers as to exactly how to view the tablet platform relative to the PC platform. This contributed to the PC sales decline in the first quarter.”
Have tablets cannibalized PC sales in your store? Do you see the popularity of tablets growing further? Have your say below.
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