Active PCs grow 1 billion strong

There are now more than a billion PCs in active use worldwide, according to analyst house Gartner.

On Gartner's estimation that the installed base of PCs is growing at an annual rate of almost 12 per cent, there will be 2 billion PCs in use by 2014, the analysts said on Monday. The findings are included in the Gartner report Forecast: PC Installed Base, Worldwide, 2004-2012.

According to Gartner, most of the one billion PCs in use -- a separate estimate from that of the number of PCs that have been shipped -- are mainly to be found in mature markets, but emerging markets are set to gain a larger share of the total in future.

The report also suggests that just over 180 million PCs will be replaced this year. This figure represents 16 per cent of the existing installed base and around a fifth of these replaced PCs will be "dumped into landfill with little or no regard for their toxic content", said Meike Escherich, a principal research analyst at Gartner.

"The disposition of retired PCs has become a high-profile issue for many PC vendors, governments and environmental interest groups," said Escherich. "It will become an even more pressing issue, especially in emerging markets, as the number of retired PCs grows with the continuing expansion of the PC installed base."