PC sales bode well for Silicon Valley

PC sales bode well for Silicon Valley Despite the area's housing slump, job losses and the soaring cost of living, analysts do have some good news for California's Silicon Valley — this is shaping up to be a good year for computer sales.
   Worldwide shipments of PCs hit a two-year high in the third quarter, according to research by Framingham, Mass.-based IDC, with a 15.5 percent sale jump for the July-to-October period. Third quarter unit sales were 66.9 million PCs, up from 57.9 million units in the year-ago period, IDC said.
   Stamford, Conn.-based research firm Gartner Inc. reported a slightly slower growth rate at 14.4 percent over the third quarter of 2006. Analysts at Gartner said 68.5 million PCs shipped in the third quarter, up from 59.8 million in the same 2006 period. Third quarter growth in the United States was pegged at 4.7 percent by IDC, with the Asia-Pacific region posting a 23 percent increase and the Europe/Middle East/Africa markets up 16 percent.
   While both firms use slightly different methodologies to compute their analyses, both agreed that laptop PC sales are countering mediocre sales in non-mobile models. Gartner cited lower consumer confidence and the housing market slump for weaker-than-expected growth in the U.S. home and professional PC markets.
   IDC said the strong increases in laptop and portable PCs would result in a very strong end-of-the-year finish for the industry, predicting a 13.5 percent fourth quarter increase.
   Gartner, citing some concerns over U.S. economic indicators, predicted a slightly softer 12.3 increase for the fourth quarter.
   Silicon Valley is home to a number of computer-related firms such as chipmakers Intel and AMD, PC maker Hewlett-Packard, storage device makers SanDisk and Maxtor, as well as numerous PC software, peripheral and component manufacturers.