“The PC market in Western Europe suffered from weak demand in both the professional and consumer sectors, a market which also faced inventory issues caused by overstocking in 2010,” said Meike Escherich, principal analyst at Gartner. “The much anticipated uptake in the professional segment, in the wake of migration to Windows 7, was subdued by the negative economic outlook. PC shipments in the professional segment declined 9 percent in the second quarter of 2011. The biggest decline continued to come from the consumer segment which decreased 27 percent year-on-year.”

PC shipments in the UK totaled 2.5 million units in the second quarter of 2011, a decline of 15 percent compared with the same period in 2010. The professional market remained weak with a decline of 13.5 percent. The migration to Windows 7 and replacement of aging PCs continued to be muted by the negative economic outlook.

“PCs are not attracting consumers' disposable income, particularly in light of alternative devices. While remaining an important device to consumers, there are few compelling technological reasons to drive PC replacements,” said Isabelle Durand, principal analyst at Gartner.

PC shipments in France totaled 2.3 million units in the second quarter of 2011, a decline of 17.8 percent compared with the same period a year ago. It performed below expectations and remained weak due to slow consumer demand and lower PC shipments.

“For the fourth consecutive quarter, the PC market in France showed decline,” said Durand. “It also exhibited the weakest PC growth of the three major countries in Western Europe in the second quarter of 2011.”

The consumer market declined 33 percent partly due to the rise in popularity of media tablets and smartphones, which impacted PC purchases. The professional market increased 9 percent in the second quarter of 2011 but volumes were not significant enough to compensate for the drop in consumer demand. The mobile PC market accounted for 67 percent of total PC shipments, with volumes declining 18 percent. Desktop PCs declined 18 percent year-on-year. Of the total mobile segment, mini-notebook sales declined 49 percent in the second quarter of 2011. Apple made its entry in the top five PC vendors ranking in the second quarter, and it was the only top five vendors to exhibit shipment growth.

“The French PC market is expected to improve in the second half of 2011, with more attractive back-to-school promotions compared to a year ago and product refreshes,” said Durand. “However, the availability of new media tablet models will lead to a price battle in the mobile market. Some level of government austerity measures due to the recent economic issues could also impact consumer confidence and spending in France.”

PC shipments in Germany totaled 2.4 million units in the second quarter of 2011, a decrease of 13.3 percent compared with the same period in 2010. This marks the second consecutive quarter of double-digit shipment decline. The PC market continued to be hit by poor mobile PC sales that decreased 14 percent. Desktop PC shipments declined 12 percent in the quarter. The double-digit fall in mobile PC sales was mainly caused by a steep decline in mini-notebook shipments, which decreased 43 percent.

HP continued to lead in the German PC market as it accounted for 13.3 percent of PC shipments in the second quarter of 2011. Demand in the professional PC market has improved as organizations released budgets to migrate aging PCs to Windows 7. HP in particular seemed to benefit from this upturn in the professional market.

“Given the hype around media tablets such as the iPad, retailers were very conservative in placing orders for PCs,” said Escherich. “Instead, many of them wanted to secure space for media tablets.”

PC shipments in the second quarter of 2011 declined in Western Europe. The only real bright spot was Apple. The company made its entry in the top five PC vendors ranking. Photo: www.imagine-your-world.com

Windows 7 will become the leading operating system worldwide in the PC installed base, running on 42 percent of PCs in use by the end of 2011. Gartner's latest PC OS forecast shows 94 percent of new PCs will be shipped with Windows 7 in 2011.

"Steady improvements in IT budgets in 2010 and 2011 are helping to accelerate the deployment of Windows 7 in enterprise markets in the U.S. and Asia/Pacific, where Windows 7 migrations started in large volume from 4Q10," said Annette Jump, research director at Gartner. "However, the economic uncertainties in Western Europe, political instability in selected Middle East and Africa (MEA) countries and the economic slowdown in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 will likely lead to slightly late and slow deployment for Windows 7 across those regions."

The forecast assumes that Windows 7 is likely to be the last version of Microsoft OS that gets deployed to everybody through big corporate wide migration. In the future, many organizations will also use alternative client computing architectures for standard PCs with Windows OS, and move toward virtualization and cloud computing in the next five years.

"By the end of 2011, nearly 635 million new PCs worldwide are expected to be shipped with Windows 7. Many enterprises have been planning their deployment of Windows 7 for the last 12 to 18 months, and are now moving rapidly to Windows 7," Jump said.

Shipments of Apple iMacs and Mac OS share on new PCs have seen increases in the last 12 months. The Mac OS was shipped with 4 percent of new PCs worldwide in 2010 versus 3.3 percent in 2008. Mac OS is forecast to be on 4.5 percent of PCs in 2011, and grow to 5.2 percent of new PCs in 2015. Shipments will grow stronger in mature markets where consumers are buying into the Apple product ecosystem.

"The adoption of Mac PCs and Mac OS is a result of Apple's ability to grow well above the market average in the last 12 to 24 months, thanks to its ease of use from the user interface (UI) point of view and ease of integration with other Apple devices, such as the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch," Jump said.

The Mac OS share still varies greatly by region, as Apple has much stronger presence in North America and Western Europe. The fastest growth is expected to happen in selected emerging countries, where Apple and Mac OS are growing from a small base.

Gartner does not expect Chrome OS, Android or webOS to get any significant market share on PCs in the next few years. Analysts believe that to get any consideration as an alternative for a traditional PC, lighter OSs will first need to get strong positions on emerging client devices such as Web books and media tablets. Even then, it is unlikely that they will have any impact on Microsoft and Windows OS's hold on positions on traditional professional PCs in the time frame of the current forecast. This is because of application compatibility issues and the high proportion of Windows-specific applications within many enterprises.

Gartner estimates that only in 2012 will the market reach the point of crossover between Windows-specific and OS-agnostic applications for enterprises, as 50 percent of the applications will be OS-agnostic. In the consumer space, the company believes that the proportion of OS-agnostic applications is already above the Windows-specific applications. This could help Chrome OS and Android make inroads into the consumer space in the next three to five years.

"Leveraging our 20-year display heritage, these new ViewPad solutions provide users with anytime anywhere connectivity," said Jeff Volpe, vice president and general manager for ViewSonic Americas. "With access to the universe of Android apps, our new ViewPads are perfectly suited for enjoying digital entertainment and social media. Office productivity is also a snap with robust web browsing functionality."

The ViewPad 10 will be a dual-boot Wi-Fi enabled device, running on the early Android version 1.6 or Windows 7 Home Premium.  It is powered by a 1.66 GHz Intel Atom processor, features 1 GB of integrated memory, a 16GB SSD hard drive and a micro SD slot. A 1.3-megapixel webcam with built-in microphone enables videoconferencing, and the 1024x600 LED backlit panel is touch-sensitive.

With its wireless 802.11 b/g and Bluetooth connectivity, the ViewPad 7 supports instant messaging and VoIP. It runs Android 2.2, features an 800x480 WVGA LCD screen, two cameras (3-megapixels in the rear and 0.3 megapixels in the front), and a USB port. 512 MB of integrated memory are complimented by up to 32GB of storage via a micro SD card slot. ViewSonic says that users can expect a battery life of up to 10 hours.

While the ViewPad 7 will be available late in 2010 with a suggested retail price of $479, the ViewPad 10 should arrive in stores in the first quarter of 2011 and carry a price tag of about $629.

ViewSonic is entering the tablet market with two new devices, the ViewPad 7 and the dual-boot capable ViewPad 10. Photo: ViewSonic

"Designed for the tech-savvy, on-the-go individual, the ultra-slim ASUS Eee Pad acts as a supplementary Windows-based portable tablet PC that keeps the user perpetually connected to the information superhighway," says Asus in a statement. "Social networking sites, movies, video-conferencing - virtually everything is at the users' fingertips."

Both devices are positioned as compact tablet computers, multimedia players, and e-readers. They are capable of true multitasking. The EP121 can be controlled through an embedded virtual keyboard or a hybrid keyboard via a docking station and runs on a full version of Windows 7 Home Premium. The EP101TC weighs in at 24 Oz (675 grams) and runs on Windows Embedded Compact 7.

Asustek says that it plans to launch the two devices in the first quarter of 2011. While few details are available, the company plans to co-develop an application store with Intel. Prices have been set at $399 for the EP101TC and $449 for the EP121, according to Asustek.

Photo: Asustek Computer Inc.

"PC demand in the consumer segment continues to strengthen even though the global economy remains uncertain. Consumers are now viewing PCs as necessities rather than luxury items," said Ranjit Atwal, principal research analyst at Gartner. "In the downturn, PCs remained the electronic device of choice on which to spend household income in mature markets, and we do not expect this to change either in 2010 or beyond."

Gartner predicts robust growth in the professional PC market as the adaption of Windows 7 drives demand to replace or upgrade older hardware. "Larger businesses expect to start replacements in the second half of 2010, with the majority replaced in 2011. We now expect Windows 7 migration to last through 2012," says Atwal.

Mini-notebooks continue to grow, but their growth is showing signs of slowing down as the submarket for them matures. Worldwide mini-notebook shipments are preliminarily forecast to total 41.8 million units in 2010, a 30 percent increase from 2009 shipments of 32.1 million units. Mini-notebooks will account for 18.6 percent of mobile PC shipments in 2010, but their share will steadily decline after this year, falling to 13.9 percent of the mobile PC market in 2014.

Gartner predicts that 10 million media tablets with a touchscreen size of 5 inches or more and a fully fledged operating system (OS) will be shipped in 2010. "Media tablets will not impact the mini-notebook segment this year," research analyst Raphael Vasquez said. "However, media tablets, such as the iPad and similar devices, will significantly detract from mini-notebook shipments in 2013 and onward, when we expect their prices to be lower and, more importantly, their functionality to be more similar to mini-notebooks."

PC markets in Western Europe, China, and the U.S. are expected to generate more than half of 2010 PC shipment growth. In 2011, more than half of PC shipment growth in 2011 will come from the U.S. and China.