Is The Netbook Craze Responsible for Plummeting PC Sales?

Fears of netbooks cannibalizing PC sales may have been realized in full. PCs are selling worse than ever, according to an IDC report last week.

Worldwide PC processor unit shipments 4Q08 declined 17% quarter over quarter and 11.4% year over year. However, even these dismal numbers are misleading, for they include the Intel Atom chips that we know are responsible for powering the vast majority of netbook computers. Take those out and the decreases grow to 21.7% and 21.6%, respectively.

According to Shane Rau, who directs the IDC’s Semiconductors in Personal Computing research section, said what it all really means:

“[The] decline in PC processor unit shipments in the fourth quarter was the worst sequential decline since IDC started tracking processor shipments in 1996. After hinting at a decline last September, the market fell of a cliff in October and November.”

The drop in end system demand was in part credited to “tightening consumer spending”. Vista was too expensive for many, and netbooks, with their low cost and XP on the inside, looked quite a bit more attractive. Also notable is that a quarter of netbooks run Linux, another ode to the fact that consumers are being more cost-savvy.

Will this trend last? It seems doubtful. As soon as the economy picks up, PC sales should as well. That still leaves the question of netbooks; as a machine for the market of low-spenders, will they get lost when disposable income for the masses grows?

Via AppleInsider.