PC 2Q sales weak, raising doubts about earnings
A BlackBerry PlayBook tablet at a Best Buy store in San Francisco. Continued weak demand for TVs and physical media like books and DVDs pushed Best Buy’s first-quarter net income down 12 percent on Tuesday (AP Photo).
SAN FRANCISCO — The personal computer market grew slower than expected in the second quarter, hurt by the rise of tablet computers and anemic consumer demand in the U.S. and Europe.
The tepid diagnosis of the PC industry’s health in two reports released Wednesday offers another sign of trouble for an industry at an important turning point.
Market research firms Gartner Inc. and IDC, using different methodologies, each found that PC shipments improved in the second quarter but were still lighter than expected.
Gartner found that 85.2 million PCs shipped, a gain of 2.3 percent that was below its 6.7 percent projection. IDC found that 84.4 million PCs shipped, a 2.6 percent gain and short of its 2.9 percent projection.
