Microsoft’s Bill Gates once said his vision for the company he cofounded back in 1975 was to see a PC in every home. Mission accomplished? Certainly not in every country or every single household, but 93 percent of consumers surveyed by Accenture said they owned a computer. But buying a new PC may no longer be high on consumer’s shopping list, according to Accenture. Instead of plunking down their hard-earned cash for a new PC, consumers are looking to a new generation of mobile devices, including smartphones, netbooks and tablets. But moving away from the desktop experience has implications on how we surf the Web, communicate and experience new media. Datamation has the details.
Personal computers down; smartphones, tablet computers and 3DTV sales up, way up. That’s the forecast from a just-released report by Accenture (NYSE: ACN). The research giant predicts consumer purchase rates of PCs and mobile phones (excluding smartphones) will decline by 39 and 56 percent respectively this year.
On the flip side, Accenture expects buying rates of 3DTVs to jump by 500 percent; tablet computers 160 percent; ebook readers 133 percent; and smartphones 26 percent.
