Gartner revises its WW PC shipment forecasts-- shipments are to grow by 14.3% over 2009 (352.4m units), down from 17.9% in its September forecast.
It also slashes 2011 shipment forecasts-- to 15.9% increase over 2010 (409m units) instead of 18.1%.
The reason for these reductions? Weaker consumer demand thanks to growing interest in tablet devices (such as the iPad). Users will increasingly prefer such devices alongside next-generation smartphones for voice and light data consumption.
Hosted virtual desktops, using other devices as thin clients, are what will really effect PC sales in the long-term.
Gartner expects tablets to displace around 10% of PC units by 2014.
PCs are still seen as necessities, but the industry's lack of significant innovation and overreliances on a dated business model will impact its ability to induce new replacement cycles.
For the near term, Gartner predicts customers and businesses not buying PCs as they rebuild their finances in the face of an economy still in recover.
In the long term users will prefer to carry out their computing on other devices rather than replace their PCs.