idc

In the brave new world of connected personal computing devices, Hewlett-Packard is a distant No. 4, with Samsung and Apple leading the way.

Think of IDC's "Worldwide Smart Connected Device Market" report as the 21st century equivalent of PC maker rankings.

Personal computing today includes tablets and smartphones, not just the laptop in your father's home office.

That global smart-connected device market grew 27.1 percent year-over-year in the third quarter to a record 303.6 million shipments valued at $140.4 billion, IDC said today in a research note.

"HP, which is virtually non-existent … Read more

As if we didn't already know that the tablet market is the hottest thing this side of a pizza oven, IDC today raised its forecast for the tablet market for 2012 and beyond.

The fuel for the fired-up forecast? Greater variety among tablet choices as new, and often cheaper, devices crowd onto store shelves.

"Tablets continue to captivate consumers, and as the market shifts toward smaller, more mobile screen sizes and lower price points, we expect demand to accelerate in the fourth quarter and beyond," Tom Mainelli, IDC's research director for tablets, said in a statement.… Read more

Apple's tablet market share took a hit as consumers "sat out" the third quarter in anticipation of the iPad Mini, analyst firm IDC said. Android tablets made gains as a result.

After a strong second quarter, Apple's unit shipment growth slowed in both consumer and commercial (including education) markets, according to an IDC report published Monday.

"We believe a sizeable percentage of consumers interested in buying an Apple tablet sat out the third quarter in anticipation of an announcement about the new iPad Mini," said IDC analyst Tom Mainelli in a statement.

Apple's … Read more

Android commanded the worldwide smartphone market share in the third quarter, new data from research firm IDC has revealed.

With a whopping 75 percent of market share and more than 181 million smartphones shipped, Android's operating system is apparently just fine with most phone users. In a distant second place, Apple's iOS grabbed fewer than 15 percent of the world's market share.

"Android has been one of the primary growth engines of the smartphone market since it was launched in 2008," IDC Mobile Phones Research Manager Ramon Llamas said in a statement. "In every … Read more

An IDC analyst doesn't like what he's seeing so far from PC makers and their pricing for Windows 8 products.

Lenovo and Acer this week began disclosing pricing for tablets and convertibles that range between $499 (Acer) and $1,099 (Lenovo). Bob O'Donnell, program vice president of clients and displays at IDC, doesn't think this kind of traditional PC pricing bodes well for the sales of newfangled hybrid devices.

"The problem is these things are priced way too high. Look at the history of tablet products priced above the iPad. Not pretty," he said … Read more

IDC says the global computer market "withdrew sharply" in the third quarter, with shipments falling 8.6 percent from the prior year. The tech research firm had expected a decline of just 3.8 percent -- what it called a relatively quiet quarter as companies prepare for the upcoming Windows 8 launch.

Rival Gartner, meanwhile, said shipments slid 8.3 percent to 87.5 million units, worse than its expectation for a 6.5 percent decline.

Both firms noted that back-to-school promotions weren't … Read more

New products and growing consumer demand could trigger a surge in global tablet shipments to 117 million for 2012, according to IDC.

The new forecast is an increase over IDC's previous prediction, which was looking for tablet shipments of 107 million for the year. Peering over the horizon, the research firm now expects shipments to reach 166 million next year, up from its prior estimate of 142 million. And by 2016, shipments could soar as high as 261 million.

"Despite ongoing economic concerns in most regions of the world, consumers continue to buy tablets in record numbers, and … Read more

Cloud openness, and what "open" means exactly in the context of cloud computing -- whether on-premise or in a public cloud--are hot topics at the CloudOpen conference, which is being held by the Linux Foundation in San Diego this week. CloudOpen is a new event being run in parallel with LinuxCon.

That those on stage and in the audience at this event favor openness is hardly news. Nor is the fact that an open cloud is a challenge that goes beyond open source. During a panel moderated by Red Hat's John Mark Walker, Greg DeKoenigsberg of Eucalyptus … Read more

The traditional PC market is in dire need of some hot new products to drive growth. Too bad that's probably not going to happen soon, according to market researcher IDC.

The worldwide PC market has basically slowed to a crawl this year, IDC says in a report released today. It expects just 0.9 percent growth this year, the second consecutive year of growth below two percent.

While citing the usual macroeconomic culprits -- slowness in Asia and mature markets -- the report said consumers are "considering spending on other products like media tablets and smartphones" while … Read more