Gartner notes that emerging markets are also surging ahead with growth of some 22 per cent as markets in developing countries become more tech-savvy and thus by default, more computerised. The analyst firm also predicts that the next major PC replacement cycle will begin in the fourth quarter of this year. The analyst firm noted that the last cycle was in 2004-2005 and the next will run from 2008-2010, where a significant proportion of sales are expected to be in the mobile PC market. According to the report PC replacements account for some 60 per cent of global PC shipments and almost 80 per cent of PC shipments in the US, so growing replacement activity will provide a helpful boost to PC growth overall, the analysts said.