BEIJING / SAN FRANCISCO - Global shipments of personal computers fell 3.2 percent in the first quarter of 2011.

That's as businesses and consumers held back from purchasing new machines and shifted their focus to tablet computers, according to the market-research company IDC, which had projected growth of 1.5 percent compared with the same period last year.

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"Slower-than-expected commercial growth in the first quarter failed to offset the ongoing challenges in the consumer market," said Bob O'Donnell, a vice-president at IDC. "While it's tempting to blame the decline completely on the growth of media tablets, we believe other factors, including extended PC lifetimes and the lack of compelling new PC experiences, played equally significant roles."

Apple Inc's iPad accounted for around 80 percent of global tablet PC shipments last year, said Kitty Fok, vice-president of IDC Asia-Pacific. Apple's share price has already exceeded that of other PC companies in the US stock market earlier this year. "The appearance of tablet PCs is a shock to the traditional PC market. It is also the major reason why the market declined," said Fok.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 80.6 million in the first quarter. In the United States, shipments dropped 10.7 percent from a year earlier, to 16.1 million.

China will exceed the US to become the largest PC market within two years, according to IDC China. PC shipments in the Chinese market reached 15.73 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010, a 4.2 percent increase year-on-year, IDC said.

The company estimates the growth rate of the Chinese PC market will overtake those in developed economies to reach 10.8 percent this year. While the rate has slowed this year, fourth- to sixth-tier Chinese cities will have a growth rate of more than 14 percent.

China Daily - Bloomberg News