Hitting the Brakes on Corporate PCs

By Paul Carton and Jim Woods

Corporate PC purchasing continues to weaken, according to the latest ChangeWave survey, and will remain sluggish for the remainder of 2008.

Our Aug. 11-21 corporate buying survey of 1,947 respondents involved with IT spending in their organization focused on PC purchasing plans among businesses for the fourth quarter.

Purchasing Slowdown

For the third-consecutive quarter, we're seeing a drop in corporate PC buying going forward.



Sixty-eight percent of IT buyers said their company plans on buying laptops next quarter -- down three points from May to the lowest level seen in 18 months. Just 67% said their company plans to buy desktops -- down one point and also at an 18-month low.

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Key PC Manufacturers

Weakness in the corporate PC space continues for Dell (DELL), with planned purchases of laptops (down two points to 30%) and desktops (unchanged at 31%) at their lowest levels in more than three years.

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Apple's (AAPL) corporate laptop (7%) and desktop share (5%) are both off one point from their record highs reached in our May survey.



In other Apple results, 6% reported their company has increased purchase plans for Apple computers for the fourth quarter -- a two-point drop from May. But 18% said their company is considering Apple for a future purchase, one point better than previously.

In an upbeat sign for Macs, respondents estimated that 18% of their company's workforce would choose to use a Mac if it were left up to the employees themselves, which is triple the 6% who are currently using Macs.

Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ) share of U.S. planned purchases remains unchanged for desktops (15%) and laptops (14%). Keep in mind, however, that about 70% of HP's sales come from outside the United States, while our surveys focus primarily on the U.S. market.

The Takeaway

These bearish corporate PC spending results mirror those of other recent ChangeWave surveys.

In the current take-no-prisoners economic environment, corporate IT purchasers are still hitting the brakes when it comes to PC purchases, and there are no signs yet that things will start to pick up.

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Let the ChangeWave Alliance take some of the guesswork out of investing and help you grow rich. Make sure you're riding the next wave to amazing profits!

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At the company level, Dell continues to exhibit weakness going forward, particularly in laptops, while corporate planned purchases of Hewlett-Packard PCs remain unchanged from the previous survey.

Apple planned purchases are off one point from their all-time highs, but our survey still shows big upside growth opportunities for Macs in the corporate market.

Paul Carton is the Director of Research for the ChangeWave Alliance. Jim Woods is ChangeWave's Senior Editor. The Alliance is a network of 15,000 highly qualified business, technology and medical professionals in leading companies of select industries. The Alliance is surveyed weekly on a wide range of business and investment research and intelligence topics.

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