Research firm Gartner has scaled back on initial gloomy forecasts and now pegs global PC shipments to grow by some 2.8 percent this year. This works out to a growth of 298.9 million units by the end of 2009, certainly much better than the drop of 11.9 percent predicted at the beginning of this year.

Gartner attributed the net growth to a strong third quarter, which it says "virtually guaranteed we would see positive growth this year."  Moving ahead, Gartner now predicts that computer makers will ship 336.6 million units next year, or an increase of 13 percent.  In addition, laptop sales are forecasted to grow to 196.4 million units next year, or a double-digit growth of 21.2 percent.

On the flip side, the higher shipment figures will not be adequate to forestall a decline of 10.7 percent in overall PC revenues, which is affected by plummeting average selling prices.

Despite robust sales of new Windows 7 PCs touted by Microsoft, Gartner does not expect the new operating system to provide further lift to the overall PC market, though a "modest bump" to Q4 consumer demand is expected on the back of sales related to the Christmas season.

For more on this story:
- check out this Computerworld article
- check out this Bloomberg article

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