CIOIN

Worldwide PC shipments are expected to make quite a comeback this year, rebounding after several down years during a struggling economy .

Gartner  today said it projects that global PC shipments will total 376.6 million units in 2010, up 22 percent increase from the 308.3 million units shipped last year. Gartner said it also expects worldwide PC spending is to reach $245.4 billion (about Rs. 1.1 lakh crores) in 2010, up 12 percent from 2009, as the economy improves .

"PC demand in the consumer segment continues to strengthen even though the global economy remains uncertain," said Gartner analyst Ranjit Atwal in a statement. "Consumers are now viewing PCs as necessities rather than luxury items. In the downturn, PCs remained the electronic device of choice on which to spend household income in mature markets, and we do not expect this to change either in 2010 or beyond."

Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research, said he expects the PC business to grow even faster than Gartner is projecting.

"There are a lot of old PCs out there," he said. "You can reasonably argue that upgrading will save you money relatively soon."

Gottheil said there's a convergence of factors pushing PC shipments this year. "Economic recovery. Pent-up demand. Windows 7. And if memory prices resume their decline, PC prices will fall as well. While falling prices will eat into revenue increases, the lower prices will drive larger volumes, netting larger revenue increases," he said.

Gartner did note that it doesn't expect the netbook business to continue growing at its current 30 percent rate. Gartner said netbook shipments will be affected by lower mobile PC prices and because of the expected increase in the popularity of tablet devices, like Apple's iPad.

Last month, Gartner rival IDC reported that PC makers sold 24.2 percent more machines in the first quarter of 2010 than in the same period last year. A year earlier, first quarter PC shipments were 9 percent less than the previous year.

Increased sales in the last two quarters come after a series of quarterly declines that began in the third quarter of 2008, according to IDC.