“Morgan Stanley analyst Rebecca Runkle lowered her 2005 unit-shipment growth forecast to 9 percent from 11 percent over 2004. She cites better-than-expected performance in the PC market in 2004, as well as signs of a slowdown in the market late in the year,” Rex Crum reports for CBS MarketWatch.

“In a research note, Runkle said sales in the consumer market, as well as among small and medium-size businesses and the government, declined in second-half 2004. A ‘meaningful acceleration’ in the enterprise business sector would be needed for the overall PC market to post a year of double-digit growth in 2005,” Crum reports. “In Runkle’s view, Dell and Apple Computer show the best chances of gaining market share in 2005. Runkle said Dell remains in the best fundamental position for the market, while Apple should continue to benefit from the momentum of the iPod and its recent new iMac release.”

Full article here.