No, the PC isn’t dead. However, rumors of its imminent demise have apparently been greatly exaggerated.
Indeed, Forrester researcher Sarah Rotman Epps contends that the consumer PC market in the US is “getting bigger,” with PC unit sales across all form factors expected to increase by 52% over the next five years.
“Apple CEO Steve Jobs may not view the iPad as a PC, but we do. Desktops are the only type of PC whose numbers will be fewer in 2015 than they are today – and even desktops will benefit from innovation in gaming and 3D,” predicted Epps.
“[In addition], US consumers will buy more PCs in 2015 than they do in 2010, [while] growth will come from new form factors [such as] tablets, but laptop sales will also increase steadily.”
Unsurprisingly, Epps confirmed that tablets were likely to ravenously cannibalize and outsell netbooks by 2012, while 23% of all PCs sold to consumers in the US would be tablets.
“Desktops aren’t dead. [Yes], fewer desktops will be sold in 2015 than in 2010, but in 2015, they’ll still be used by more consumers than any other type of PC,” she emphasized.
