PC shipments drop as credit crunch bites
After several years of seemingly tireless 15 per cent quarterly growth, the PC industry hit a wall at the end of 2008.
Overall PC shipments worldwide dropped 0.4 per cent to 77.3 million units during the fourth quarter, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker study released Wednesday. The results are more alarming for the embattled industry considering that the quarter – the worst in several years – wasn’t helped out more by the Christmas shopping season. There hasn’t been an overall drop in shipments since the second quarter of 2001, after the last recession.
