PC Era - The End?

Nota:- Ini adalah sebahagian daripada artikel yang saya tulis bagi tujuan akademik saya. TQ

For years since August 24, 1995 general consumers were being introduced to Windows 95 which was release by Microsoft. People used
personal computer (PC) to ease on their daily task, browsing internet, enjoying entertainment and so forth.The dominance of the PC and Microsoft is so massive until a stage where a couple of new technological that did not evolve around Microsoft fail to pan out.

For example, the Linux fans hopping that the general consumers will accept the OS, but they fail.Latest figures release by Gartner, a research firm focus on information technology, said that in the third quarter of 2011, PC shipments has a slight increase from year 2010 which totaled to 91.8 million units. This result is lower than Gartner projection of 5.1 percent growth of the same quarter. Mikako Kitagawa, principal analysis at Gartner said that:-

As expected, back to school PC sales were disappointing in mature markets, confirming that the consumer PC market continue to be weak. The popularity of nonpc devices including media tables, such as iPad and smartphones took consumer’s spending away from PCs.

Another figures release by IDC, said that in the third quarter of 2011, worldwide PC shipments increased by 3.6 percent compared to same quarter in 2010. The results are just below IDC’s August projections for 4.5 percent growth in the quarter and up slightly from the 2.7 percent growth experienced in quarter two of 2011.

Figures release by both firm shows that actual worldwide PC shipments are increasing. While PC shipment in matured market, such as US and Western Europe, saw declining to 154.7 million, compared to 2010 when 166.7 millions hit the shelves and continue to grow in the coming years.The PC makers are finding ways to stay relevant in PC industry or to look for alternative business. In a news report release by Reuters in 2011, Hewlett Packet, world’s largest technology company by revenue shocked the investors by announcing that they want to spin-off or sales their PC unit (latest: they will keep the PC unit), International Business Machine (IBM) sold off their PC group to Lenovo in 2004, and Intel dominance processor for PC, invest $300 million to create a new “ultrabook”, in an effort to stay relevant in mobile industry as they unsuccessful to tap into mobile market.Some technologist writers are starting to write article related to the end of PC era.

Technology news site Softpedia in 2005 and Erica Ogg in 2011 wrote an article titled “The End of PC Era”. Wilcox in September 2011, wrote an article titled “Forget 2012 end of the world, the PC apocalypse comes in 2015”, based on the study release by IDC, projecting that in 2015, more users will connect to the internet using non-PC devices and accessing internet trough PC first will stagnate and then slowly decline.