Digital Device Market Growth Will Shift to Emerging Markets by 2017

The global connected device market, including PCs, tablets, and smartphones, grew 27.1 percent year-over-year in the third quarter of 2012, reaching a record 303.6 million shipments valued at $140.4 billion dollars, and a rapidly-growing share of such sales will occur in "emerging" markets in the coming years. 

Expectations for the holiday season quarter are that shipments will continue to reach record levels rising 19.2 percent over the third quarter and 26.5 percent over the same quarter a year ago, IDC estimates. 

Smart Connected Device Market by Product Category, Shipments, Market Share, 2012-1016
(shipments in millions)
Product Category			2016 Unit Shipments			2016 Market Share			2012 Unit Shipments			2012 Market Share			2016/2012 Growth
Desktop PC			151.0			7.2%			149.2			12.5%			1.2%
Portable PC			268.8			12.8%			205.1			17.2%			31.1%
Smartphone			1405.3			66.7%			717.5			60.1%			95.9%
Tablet			282.7			13.4%			122.3			10.2%			131.2%
Total			2107.8			100.0%			1194.0			100.0%			76.5%
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Smart Connected Device Tracker, December 10, 2012. By perhaps 2017, more tablets will be sold in "emerging" countries than in "developed" or "mature" countries, according to NPD.  Also, there is significant awareness and appetite on the part of "emerging market" firms to use the latest collaborative and digital technologies. In fact, appetite for cloud computing, business intelligence, mobile services and devices, collaboration tools, social media and telepresence is significantly higher in emerging countries than in developed nations.