March 11, 2005
Globally, the total number of personal computers in use is largely expected
to reach 1 billion very soon, and there appears to be no end in sight as
to this phenomenal rate of growth.
Overall, PC's are more common in the developing world. According to "Computers In-Use by Country," a new market research report from Computer Industry Almanac, the worldwide number of PCs in use surpassed 820 million in 2004 and is projected to top 1 billion in 2007.
PC-in-use growth is slowing somewhat in the industrialized world, but Computer Industry Almanac forecasts continued strong PC growth in the developing countries for another decade.
The US has the largest number of PCs in use, with over 220 million. That's more than three times the number in Japan. The US, with about 4.6% of the world's population, accounts for over 27% of all PCs in use.
PC usage is growing rapidly in China, which is expected to surpass Japan in 2007. PC usage is also growing strongly in many populous countries such as Brazil, India and Russia.
Notebook PCs account for 24% of total PCs in use and nearly 27% of the US total.
Another factor driving the rise of PC usage is home networking. As a recent report from In-Stat shows, media networking connections in homes will grow from 50 million in 2005 to over 200 million in 2009, a 29% compound annual growth rate.
Much of the growth will be driven by PC vendors rolling out the next wave of media center PCs designed to fit in the living room — in terms of style and function.
While media center PCs are still considered premium consumer PCs, In-Stat predicts that their media hub features will become standard on almost all PCs within the next 3 years. That alone could spur PC sales.
Source: C-Net News
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