World PC shipments fall below forecasts

An unexpected drop in worldwide personal-computer shipments in the first veterinary syringes quarter appeared to catch market researchers by surprise, with some analysts issuing unusual warnings to PC makers in their press releases about the impact of Apple Inc.’s iPad.

Rival firms Gartner and IDC both issued their first-quarter data on Wednesday, noting that the single-digit declines in shipments had not been expected. Both firms were looking for slight growth in the quarter.

“Weak demand for consumer PCs was the biggest inhibitor of growth,” Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa said in a statement.

She added that lower PC prices, which had previously stimulated growth, no longer attracted buyers.

“Instead, consumers turned their attention to media tablets, and other consumer electronics.”

She cited the launch of Apple Inc.’s /quotes/comstock/15*!aapl/quotes/nls/aapl (AAPL 335.65, -0.48, -0.14%) ?iPad 2 in February as having an impact, as consumers either switched to an iPad or held back from buying a PC. “We’re investigating whether this trend is likely to have a long-term effect on the PC market,” Kitagawa said.

One IDC analyst also talked about the impact from media tablets, cautioning PC makers in language known to many in the tech industry as coming from Clayton Christensen’s book, “The Innovator’s Dilemma.”

“Good-enough computing has become a firm reality, exemplified first by mini notebooks [netbooks] and now media tablets,” said IDC analyst Jay Chou in a press release, using a term from the book, a bible in Silicon Valley. The phrase refers to a new, Coach Bags cheaper product that usurps an entrenched one but is seen as “good enough” to attract massive users.

“Macroeconomic forces can explain some of the ebb and flow of the PC business, but the real question PC vendors have to think hard about is how to enable a compelling user experience that can justify spending on the added horsepower,” Chou added.

Another IDC analyst, Bob O’Donnell, gave another take, saying that while it was “tempting to blame the decline completely on the growth of media tablets, we believe other factors, including extended PC lifetimes and the lack of compelling new PC experiences, played equally significant roles.”

An interesting point made by Gartner was that without the OBD2 code scanner growth in corporate sales — PCs purchased by corporate users — the industry would have seen one of its worst declines in recent history.

At least they all seem to agree on one thing: The PC, at least for consumers, is becoming increasing irrelevant.