Washington - Global sales of so-called smart connected
devices - computers, smartphones and tablets - rose sharply in the past
quarter, driven by smartphones and tablets, a survey showed Wednesday.
The IDC report said shipment reached 267.3 million units in
the second quarter, a 27.4% increase year-over-year and a 2.8% rise from the
prior quarter.
On a revenue basis, the total was $131.5bn worldwide, up 16%
from a year ago but down 2.7% from the past quarter.
IDC projects a growth rate of 14% for the devices through
2016. Smartphones already represent over 59% of the category and will grow to
63% in four years.
Tablets will rise from around a 10% share this year to 13%
by 2016, reducing PC share from 31% to 24%, IDC said.
"The recent shipment data clearly demonstrates that we
have fully entered into the multi-device era, where individuals are buying and
using multiple devices per person, most often with different combinations of
operating systems," said IDC's Bob O'Donnell.
"The implications of this development on application
developers, device makers, Web service providers, businesses, and even
individuals is profound."
IDC says the worldwide total unit shipments for smart
connected devices will reach nearly 1.2 billion in 2012, and top two billion
units in 2016.
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