Mobile PC shipments boom

Mobile PC shipments could come under pressure from Smartphones and media tablets

The increase in mobile PC shipments last quarter is the highest the mobile market has experienced in eight years according to analyst firm Gartner.

Shipments leapt 43 per cent to 49m units, quarter on quarter according to analysts Gartner.

The increase represents about $36bn (£25bn) in end-user spending, according to the firm.

The main growth driver was consumer shipments, but Gartner registered uptake in the professional segment, and expects to see higher growth in that market later as enterprises refresh their hardware.

Gartner principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa said that mini-notebook PCs were a big part of the bump in mobile PC shipments in the first quarter of 2010, growing 71 per cent over the same period last year.

"However, the market share of mini-notebooks has begun to slow in some regions as consumers started to understand their limitations, especially in the face of aggressive price cuts of regular notebooks," said Kitagawa.

HP was still the top vendor in worldwide mobile PC shipments, but is increasingly being pressured by Acer, whose shipments were up 48.4 per cent on last year.

Pioneering netbook firm Asus showed the strongest growth rate over the same quarter last year, posting a 113 per cent increase.

Gartner estimates that there are about 500 million mobile PCs currently in use worldwide.

Products from adjacent categories, such as smartphones and media tablets which offer messaging and web access, are challenging PCs.

Gartner said that although it does not see these products as a direct replacement for mobile PCs, "the top applications that are downloaded will say a lot about how these devices could displace some mobile PC sales in the future."