Computer Sales Forecast Rising

Market research firm IDC on Thursday raised its forecast for worldwide PC shipments this year and next.

IDC now predicts shipments of desktops, notebooks and servers in 2003 will grow by 11.4 percent compared with 2002, to 152.6 million units. The firm said in September that it expected shipments for the year to increase by 8.4 percent to 148.2 million units.

The forecast for 2003, which would eclipse the previous high of 140.2 million units set in 2000, also represents a major improvement from 2001, during which shipments declined by 3.9 percent year over year, and 2002, when shipments grew by only 1.7 percent from the previous year, IDC said.

IDC and other market research firms such as Gartner have several times this year revised their predictions for 2003 and beyond. Better-than-expected computer shipments and optimism about improvements in the world economy have influenced the most recent changes.

Read the whole story at ZDNet.