Monday, December 16, 2002		Feature

AFTER sliding for more than a year, worldwide shipments of personal computers are supposed to swing back into a weak climbing mode in 2002- and leap by more than 8 per cent next year, according to projections from technology research firm IDC.

The company estimates global PC sales will rise to 136 million, 1.6 per cent above last year’s total of 134 million- but still below the peak in 2000, when makers shipped almost 140 million machines.

Leading the growth is a surge in laptop purchases in the second half of 2002 that IDC estimates at almost 14 per cent above last year’s levels.By contrast, IDC predicts sales of desktop machines will climb by slightly more than 2 per cent in the same period.

The PC market is closely tied to the worldwide economy especially in the United States, which is responsible for more than a third of the world’s PC purchases, said IDC PC analyst Loren Loverde.

As long as the global economy improves in 2003, IDC expects shipments of PCs to climb beyond 147 million, a growth rate of more than 8 per cent. In the United States, third-quarter 2002 purchases got a boost from an increase in government security spending, but a war in Iraq could hurt consumer purchases next year, IDC said. Government purchases in China also boosted performance in an Asia-Pacific region that was otherwise bogged down by a persisent slump in Japan, Loverde said. — AP