Market

Market

In 2001 125 million personal computers were shipped in comparison to 48 thousand in 1977. More than 500 million PCs were in use in 2002 and one billion personal computers had been sold worldwide since mid-1970s till this time. Of the latter figure, 75 percent were professional or work related, while the rest sold for personal or home use. About 81.5 percent of PCs shipped had been desktop computers, 16.4 percentlaptops and 2.1 percent servers. United States had received 38.8 percent (394 million) of the computers shipped, Europe 25 percent and 11.7 percent had gone to Asia-Pacific region, the fastest-growing market as of 2002. The second billion was expected to be sold by 2008.^[2] Almost half of all the households in Western Europe had a personal computer and a computer could be found in 40 percent of homes in United Kingdom, compared with only 13 percent in 1985.^[3]

As of June 2008, the number of personal computers in use worldwide hit one billion, while another billion is expected to be reached by 2014. Mature markets like the United States, Western Europe and Japan accounted for 58 percent of the worldwide installed PCs. The emerging markets were expected to double their installed PCs by 2013 and to take 70 percent of the second billion PCs. About 180 million PCs (16 percent of the existing installed base) were expected to be replaced and 35 million to be dumped into landfill in 2008. The whole installed base grew 12 percent annually.^[4][5]

[edit]Rugged computer industry

Besides the regular computer manufacturers, companies making especially rugged versions of computers have sprung up, offering alternatives for people operating their machines in extreme weather or environments. ^[6]

[edit]Netbooks and nettops

The emergence of new market segment of small, energy-efficient and low-cost devices (netbooks and nettops) could threaten established companies like Microsoft, Intel, HP or Dell, analysts said in July 2008. A market research firm International Data Corporation predicted that the category could grow from fewer than 500,000 in 2007 to 9 million in 2012 as the market for low cost and secondhand computers expands in developed economies. ^[7] Also, after Microsoft ceased selling of Windows XP for ordinary machines, it made an exception and continued to offer the operating system for netbook and nettop makers.^[8]