he installed base for PC's will reach 2 billion by 2014 claims research group Gartner. The estimate is based on an average growth of 12%. Currently the base is 1 billion.
TWICE magazine claim that the research group use the term "installed base" to refer to PCs that are in use as opposed with the number of PCs shipped over a given period. Its most recent PC market predictions are part of the report "Forecast: PC Installed Base, Worldwide, 2004-2012."
According to the Gartner press release the world's installed base of PCs remains heavily concentrated in mature markets, Gartner said it expects emerging markets to claim an increasingly larger share of the world's installed base going forward as PC penetration in those markets continue to drive 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," said George Shiffler, research director at Gartner.
