IDC: Laptops to outsell desktops by 2011
updated 06:00 pm EDT, Wed March 21, 2007
Laptop to outsell desktop
If trends continue, laptop computers will begin outselling desktops by 2011, says the research firm IDC. While the desktop market is expected to grow by 3.8 percent year-on-year, with a short-term burst provided by Windows Vista, these figures are still outweighed by laptop estimations, pegged at 16.1 percent per year. Last year saw laptop shipments increase by 26.3 percent to 82 million, while desktops were relatively stagnant, growing by less than two percent to 140 million.
The trend may be attributable to two factors. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, the number of Internet users with home wireless doubled between 2005 and 2007, encouraging increased use of computers away from a central location. Meanwhile, notes the BBC, wireless is also becoming more prevalent in public locations, and many workers are now travelling enough that they can justify the cost of a laptop. [via BBC News]
