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Windows CE machines set to outsell Windows in five years

  • no.1539
  • 2003-04-10
Apr. 8, 2003 The Inquirer (U.K.) By Arron Rouse IT MUST BE A SLOW news day around the IT world. The various newswires have suddenly gone mad over the story of Windows CE machines selling more than desktop Windows machines in five years time. That's according to one analyst firm that has just produced a nice, fat, expensive report. The report comes courtesy of ETForecasts. Not that it's arrived at the INQUIRER offices, only the press release turned up. It would be a fair guess that it's the press release that everyone else got too. It's full of juicy figures, like Windows CE machines will sell 14-17 million units this year. And that Windows PCs will ship around 135 million units. Interesting stuff. Then the crystal balls really come into play. The analyst firm reckons that, in around 2008, Windows CE machines will be selling around 200 million units a year. The same figure as desktop PCs. It even postulates that the Wince machines will go on to be selling half again as many per year in 2010. By now you really should be thinking about that standard waiver that's put on the bottom of every forecast. You know, the one about forward-looking statements being pure speculation and possibly very wrong. The IT industry doesn't even have that good an idea as to what's going to happen next month, let alone what's going to happen in five years. Maybe you think that's a little harsh. Analysts do, after all, a very useful job. And the press does a useful job reporting on what the analysts have to say. But just a few short months ago this same firm of analysts said, "In 2000 PDA units were at 13% of PC units, which will increase to over 33% in 2008." So their figure has tripled in six months.