One billion PCs in use worldwide, 180 million discarded

Archiv – The number of installed PCs worldwide has surpassed 1 billion units, according to UK research agency Gartner, Inc. Analysts estimate the worldwide installed base of PCs is growing just under 12 percent annually. At that pace, it will surpass 2 billion units by early 2014.United Kingdom | The number of installed PCs worldwide has surpassed 1 billion units, according to UK research agency Gartner, Inc. Analysts estimate the worldwide installed base of PCs is growing just under 12 percent annually. At that pace, it will surpass 2 billion units by early 2014.
Gartner defines the installed base of PCs as the estimated number of PCs in use as opposed to the number shipped over a given a period, which is reported in Gartner’s PC forecast and market share reports.
The world’€™s installed base of PCs remains heavily concentrated in mature markets. However, emerging markets will claim an increasingly larger share of the world’€™s installed base going forward as the rapidly rising PC penetration in emerging markets continues to drive strong double-digit PC growth.
’Mature markets such as the United States, Western Europe, and Japan currently account for 58 percent of the world’€™s installed PCs, but these markets only account for 15 percent of the world’€™s population,’€™ says George Shiffler, research director at Gartner. ‘€˜There’€™s a startling difference in per capita PC penetration between mature and emerging markets. But, rapid economic development across emerging markets is not only narrowing the disparity in average living standards, it’s closing the difference in per capita PC penetration between mature and emerging markets.’
The global PC installed base is constantly being churned as PC users replace their used machines with new ones. Some retired PCs find their way back into the installed base to second owners through various channels, some are broken up and recycled, but others are simply dumped directly into landfill.
‘€˜We forecast just over 180 million PCs ‘€’ approximately 16 percent of the existing installed base ‘€’ will be replaced this year,’€™ says Meike Escherich, principal research analyst at Gartner. ‘€˜We estimate a fifth of these, or some 35 million PCs, will be dumped into landfill with little or no regard for their toxic content.’€™