The number of smart connected devices, including PCs, media tablets, and smartphones, witnessed shipments of more than 916 million units and revenues over $489bn in 2011, according to the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, Mobile Phone Tracker and Media Tablet Tracker.
IDC Clients and Displays vice president Bob O’Donnell said,"Whether it’s consumers looking for a phone that can tap into several robust ‘app’ ecosystems, businesses looking at deploying tablet devices into their environments, or educational institutions working to update their school’s computer labs, smart, connected, compute-capable devices are playing an increasingly important role in nearly every individual’s life."
The research firms foresee unit shipments for smart connected devices to top 1.1 billion worldwide in 2012.
By 2016, it predicts shipments to reach 1.84 billion units, which is more than twice the 2011 figure. This works out to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.4% for the five-year forecast period.
In terms of platforms, IDC expects the once-dominant Windows on x86 platform, consisting of PCs running the Windows operating system on any x86-compatible CPU, slipping from a leading 35.9% share in 2011 down to 25.1% in 2016.
The number of Android-based devices running on ARM CPUs are expected to grow from 29.4% share in 2011 to 31.1% share in 2016.
iOS-based devices are expected to grow from 14.6% share in 2011 to 17.3% in 2016.
