Worldwide PC shipments rose to 33.9 million in the second quarter of 2003, up 9.6% on the same quarter in 2002, according to figures from IDC. The research company says that the rise was driven by strong consumer and public sectors responding to competitive pricing, by high mobile demand, and by a more gradual increase in business spending.

IDC has revised its forecast for growth in 2003 from 6.3% to 8.4% because of these results. But it has lowered its projection for 2004 slightly from 10.3% to 10.2%. It

	Worldwide PC shipments 2000-2004 Source: IDC

expects shipment values to fall by 1.9% to $171.7 billion in 2003, but to rise by 2.1% in 2004.

“Continued consumer spending is great for the market,” says Loren Loverde, director of IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. “Nevertheless, it was supported by short-term factors like a weak dollar and there was a limited impact from SARS. It also conceals the slow recovery in business spending. We may see slightly more consumer demand and less business spending for the rest of 2003 than previously expected, but we believe overall market conditions merely shifted demand into the second quarter rather than significantly boosting long-term demand.”