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One billion PCs in use in 2008

Landfill operators of the world, rejoice!

There will be over one billion PCs in use worldwide by the end of 2008, according to a new report by Forrester Research.

And with PC adoption in emerging markets growing fast, there will be more than two billion PCs in use by 2015, Forrester predicts.

It took 27 years to reach the one billion mark, but Forrester expects the rate of PC adoption to accelerate dramatically due to advancing technology, lower prices and global demand on the part of a technology-aware population.

According to Forrester, the emerging Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) market will account for more than 775 million new PCs by 2015.

"There is nothing more important to the long-term health of the technology industry and personal technology in particular than the ability to deliver relevant, accessible and affordable technology to the billions of people worldwide who have not been exposed to it," said Simon Yates, Forrester Research vice president and research director.

"The industry can probably survive selling incrementally better hardware and software to the people who already have technology in their lives, but the vast majority of growth in the PC and related industries will come from emerging markets," said Yates.

Forrester forecasts an acceleration in growth but also unpredictability in emerging markets. Vendors, it notes, are used to the predictability of buyers in mature markets, but high-volume launches into emerging markets are risky. According to Forrester, PC sellers won't have the luxury of introducing products on a small scale to test the market before going into full production because the economics will force suppliers to focus on bringing volume to market more quickly at much greater risk.

"There are risks. It is safe to assume that life cycles will be longer in emerging markets. Vendors, accustomed to mature markets where the average life cycle is between four and five years, will need to have a deep understanding of how to work in these markets and, with less of a market for replacement PCs, will need to band together to scale production for these emerging regions," said Yates.

Forrester praises Microsoft Unlimited Potential, the Intel World Ahead Program, AMD 50x15, and OLPC for their efforts in reaching untapped markets. Its findings are contained in a report entitled Worldwide PC Adoption Forecast to 2015.

© 2007 ENN

Latest Comments
Anonymous Coward

freaky troll

Webster Phreaky is a troll and should be completely ignored by everyone for that basis alone.

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DEC predicted the future...badly!

In 1977, Ken Olson, founder of computer giant DEC, sniffed that "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."! Might explain why DEC never made it on the home computer gravy train!

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re: "One billion PCs in use in 2008"

forecast: a billion/PCs by two-thousand-eight./from whence their power?

a billion PCs/in commission by next year/techs fry potatoes

predict a billion/PCs on earth by next year/whither the old Dells?

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Anonymous Coward

Suspect Device

"Not a single mention of Macs etc"

I think that Forrester are talking about desktop computers in general, rather than IBM-compatible PCs specifically, although there's no way to be sure from the report. That's why I wonder how they define a PC. I assume they include laptops, but would they include miniature laptops and ultra-mobile PCs? The "One Laptop Per Child" (the creators of which envisage shipping millions of the things)? Smartphones? An XBox? Presumably yes, probably, no and no in that order, but I can't tell. The PC will be very different in 2015.

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MACS....

@Webster Phreaky

A Mac is a PC you plonker.

Its people like you that make mac people so smug....

(and no, im not a mac user)

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