Smartphones Outsell PCs for the First Time Ever
Smartphones have outsold PCs for the first time ever.
It sometimes fun to compare apples to oranges, right? So with that in mind, IDC is reporting that the last quarter saw smartphones outsell PCs worldwide. According to IDC, consumer electronics manufacturers shipped 100.9 million smartphones from October through to December 2010. This represents an 87 percent jump from a year earlier. On the other hand, PC shipments were weaker than initially expected and amounted to 92.1 million, just a 3 percent increase.
Though it’s impressive growth for the smartphone industry, it’s not exactly a shocking development. With smartphone and mobile technology moving at such a hair-raising pace, it seems like newer, better, faster phones are being pushed every other month. People can’t help but want the next big thing, and with so many new phones out there, more people than ever are choosing to buy smartphones.
Comparing this gotta-have-it atmosphere to the PC industry seems a little redundant. Not only are people using smartphones and PCs for very different tasks (it’s not like we’re comparing netbooks to notebooks, here), most have a tendency to choose a PC they know will last them a few years. There’s also the point that smartphones are significantly cheaper than PCs. Even if people vow to keep the same phone for a few years, a nice juicy sale could change their mind very quickly.
All that said, it's impressive that a new industry, like the smartphone industry, could find it's footing and reach levels similar to that of the PC industry in just a couple of years.
Read more on Yahoo! News.
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Most households only need one PC whereas everyone will probably have a phone so I can't say I'm surprised.
Plus there's a convergence between what a PC can do and a smartphone. Smartphones are cheaper and smaller in general.
1) Hardly a good comparison. The PC market has very much become a replacement market: people buy a new PC every few years, but that's about it. Big enterprises are even warier replacing their hardware. The smartphone market is still emerging: the breakneck pace of development and generous subsidy policy by the carriers have made such fast growth possible. Once the technology truly matures, I think growth will stall.