“PC sales continue to grow, but at a slower pace than expected, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore. In a note to investors on Tuesday, he cut his PC unit growth, excluding tablet sales, for 2011 to a 4 percent year over yearn increase, compared to his previous prediction of 9 percent,” Neil Hughes reports for AppleInsider.
“While PC sales saw a significant reduction in estimates, Whitmore boosted his 2011 tablet sales forecast to 45 million, up from 40 million. And he sees the lion’s share of those tablets — 35 million — being sold by Apple,” Hughes reports. “‘We remain skeptical whether the likes of HP, Dell, Motorola, Samsung and RIMM etc can close the competitive gap on iPad 2,’ he wrote. ‘Specifically, iPad challengers must either undercut on price (negative margin implications) and/or offer a superior user experience. In aggregate, we believe iPad will remain dominant with 70% market share. Our tablet unit estimate remains below Consensus due to our concerns that non-iPad tablets will underwhelm.'”
Hughes reports, “Tablet sales have apparently had the greatest impact on the consumer notebook market, which Whitmore said is being ‘usurped’ by Apple’s iPad. His checks overseas indicate that iPad ‘cannibalization’ of traditional PCs, or the percentage of buyers using the device as a notebook replacement, is north of 30 percent… Deutsche Bank has also increased its price target for AAPL stock to $450, and accordingly cut its price target for Dell to $18 and HP to $40.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]