According to research of the Taipei-based Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC) conducted as part of the ITIS project, worldwide PC shipment volume in 2009 is expected to see a slight decline. The share of notebook PCs in total PC shipment volume is expected to exceed 50% for the first time in 2009, and emerging market demand will be an important growth driver for the PC market. Important PC market trends in the future will revolve around brand-name vendors' mobile computing product lines, changing desktop PC design, and notebook PC touchscreen panels and ultra-thin design.
Some regions will experience shipment declines as a result of the global economic downturn, but the global PC market is expected to decline only slightly. Overall, global PC shipment volume is expected to slightly exceed 260 million units in 2009. According to MIC Senior Industry Analyst Chris Wei, "mainstream notebook PC shipment volume in 2009 is expected to roughly maintain the level of 2008, but the share of value-line products will increase, impacting the industry's shipment value in 2009. It is expected that in 2009 worldwide notebook PC shipment volume will overtake desktop PC shipment volume for the first time. With high-quality value-line products being well received in the market due to the decline in consumer confidence, vendors will continue to roll out value-line products in 2009. Netbook PC products will continue to develop strongly, and strong growth is forecast for this product type in 2009."
Mr. Wei also stated that "the PC industry landscape in 2009 will experience changes due to mergers and acquisitions. Fujitsu acquired Siemens's 50% share in Fujitsu-Siemens, while Panasonic and Sanyo initiated negotiations for a possible merger. These are important issues for the future development of the PC industry."
MIC believes that in the future integrated applications combining software and services will become an important development direction, as breakthroughs for the application growth bottleneck of mainstream computing system products are not expected in the short-term future. There will be significant growth opportunities in areas such as digital retail, digital healthcare and digital billboard applications.
More information can be found in the following MIC report: Worldwide Notebook PC Forecast, 2009 - 2013 / Worldwide Desktop PC Forecast, 2009 - 2013
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About MIC
Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), based in Taipei, Taiwan, was founded in 1987. MIC is Taiwan's premier IT industry research and consulting firm providing intelligence, in-depth analysis, and strategic consulting services on global IT product and technology trends, focusing on markets and industries in Asia-Pacific. MIC is part of the Institute for Information Industry. https://mic.iii.org.tw/english
About ITIS
The Industry and Technology Intelligence Services (ITIS) project is managed by the Department of Industrial Technology of Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs. As part of the project, research is conducted in a variety of fields, including the ICT sector. The project serves both the public and private sector.