Expect a “rocky” fourth quarter in PC sales. This is the message from the research firm IDC.
The PC monitor cut its forecast for the holiday period to 7.69 percent growth in the U.S. market. That is down from 10.2 percent two months ago.
The downturn is leading consumers to pull back their spending plans, IDC said. This caution could lead to a weak 2009 and a recovery in 2010.
Spending on desktop machines should be down 12 percent in the three months while laptop sales should be up 22.6 percent. (Low-cost “netbook” laptops appear to be among the hottest category these days.)
One more thing: look for consolidation i the PC space, IDC said.
[...] doubts, Netbooks are going to be one of the hottest items this holiday [...]