Gartner this week let down its growing forecast for worldwide microcomputer lading in 2011 , joining a growing turn of analyst who trust Apple ’s iPad 2 will bridge over the stay on gap between laptops and tablet this twelvemonth .
The enquiry firm said that worldwide PC shipments will produce at a slower - than - expected rate as users choose for a wider variety of “ PC alternatives ” such as the iPad to meet their calculation motivation . Gartner is forecasting personal computer despatch to sum 387.8 million unit this twelvemonth , growing by 10.5 percentage compared to 2010 . Gartner previously projected 15.9 percent maturation for this year .
“ We gestate uprise consumer exuberance for mobile PC alternatives , such as the iPad and other mass medium tablets , to dramatically slacken home mobile personal computer sales , especially in matured markets , ” said George Shiffler , enquiry theatre director at Gartner , in a statement .
The forecast update comes just a day after Apple launch iPad 2 , the successor to the wildly successful iPad , which started ship about a year ago . By the end of 2010 , iPad shipments number around 15 million unit , with the popularity of the tablet spark discourse that the market is entering a post - PC earned run average where tab will progressively be the focus .
The iPad 2 contains a dual - kernel A5 processor pass at 1GHz , and provides twice the processing baron and nine times good nontextual matter than its predecessor . The new pad of paper is able-bodied to meet back 1080p gamey - definition video , a project many netbooks and accounting entry - level laptop and personal computer still contend with . Netbook shipments are already getting clobbered by tablets , with both devices competing for consumer dollar mark .
The iPad 2 could also bite into Apple ’s Mac and iPhone dispatch , and both product lines are potentially at peril , publish fiscal psychoanalyst Brian Marshall of Gleacher and Company , in a enquiry note on Thursday .
“ The iPad has successfully integrate the functionality of a slimmed down notebook into a media player pattern factor and has in effect rendered a … portion of the Mac ( and potentially the iPhone ) product fellowship obsolete , ” Marshall wrote .
iPhones and Macs generated 64 pct of Apple ’s total gross in calendar year 2010 , Marshall write .
Of naturally , the original iPad has n’t just pain Mac and iPhone shipments . During itsfiscal first quarter of 2011 , Apple sold 7.33 million iPads , well-nigh fit the entire number of tablet it sell during the entire 2010 financial yr . Still , Apple savour record Mac sales during the financial first quarter and saw iPhone sale jump 86 percent from the same period a twelvemonth ago . “ If this is cannibalization , it feel middling good , ” Apple honcho operating officerTim Cook told analystsin January , when asked if iPads were feed into Mac sales .
The post - PC theme was evoked by Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps , whoin a Wednesday web log launching , say that iPad 2 would facilitate Apple get 80 percentage share of the U.S. pad market in 2011 . Epps projected 24 million tablet sales in the U.S. this year .
“ In a post - PC world , consumers have a more intimate relationship with their machine . They utilise them on the couch and in bottom and not just at their desk , ” Epps wrote . “ Fostering that desire is a smart way of life to secern your piece of glass from other objet d’art of glass that perform essentially the same functions . ”
Stifel financial analyst Doug Reid is projecting worldwide pad lading to reach 58 million units this year . Apple will achieve 53 percent securities industry part in 2011 , compared to the 94 per centum contribution it had last year .
“ We expect demand for Flash , 4 G , and Android - based pad and aggressive price competition from … competitors ( Samsung , LG , HTC ) to repel [ orchard apple tree ] marketplace share lower , ” Reid wrote in a research note .
Apple ’s iPad present contest from tablets due out this year running Google ’s Android 3.0 . Motorola last month started ship the Xoom , the first pad usable with Android 3.0 . Hewlett - Packard , Research In Motion and Dell are among the companies that will transport tablet after this yr .
Besides tablets , smartphones such asMotorola ’s Atrix 4Gare also being pitch as alternatives to PCs . The Atrix , which runs on a dual - heart weapon central processor , could be plug into a bobtail with an 11.6 - inch screen and keyboard to give laptop - like functionality to the smartphone .
Macworld staff lead to this report .
