Is Web site Business Insider engaging in hyperbole when it reported the end of the era of the PC? Maybe. But there’s no denying that the boom times of the personal computer are gone. Just examine the growing demand for mobile computing. Consumers today are turning to their tablets and smartphones in increasing numbers to access the Internet. That is the main reason why Business Insider’s editors aren’t too far off in predicting the end of the PC’s computing dominance.
Are PCs outdated?
It’s not that consumers will no longer buy PCs. They will. They just aren’t going to be buying as many. And when they want to check their e-mail messages, update their Facebook pages or find the closest Smashburger, they’ll be far more apt to punch up the Internet on their smartphones or tablets. Business Insider relies on data from IDC and Gartner to show that PC sales have been flat since 2009 while the quantity of smartphones sold has now overtaken the number of PCs sold.
Tablets are Hot, Not PCs
It’s becoming more and more clear that today’s consumers prefer to do their computing on tablets rather then PCs. Business Insider points to data from IDC, Strategy Analytics and Gartner that show that tablet sales have become greater than PC sales. The fact is, the story shows that consumers are buying more than one iPad per household. According to research data, greater than 32 percent of consumers reported their households contained two iPads as of July of 2012. And that’s just the beginning of our iPad mania. The same research found that 4.9 percent of households boasted more than four of the devices.
The Future
PC makers shouldn’t rely on a brighter future. As outlined by Business Insider, citing numbers from Nielsen, about 40 percent of consumers who are older than 13 want to purchase a tablet in the next six months. That’s far higher than the 19 percent that want to buy a computer. And if you think that’s bad, consider that young consumers, especially, seem to be weary of the PC. As outlined by Business Insider, more than 75 percent of young consumers want to buy a tablet in the next six months. Just 30 percent of young consumers are interested in buying a computer.