Worldwide and U.S. Media Center PC 2006-2010 Forecast: Opportunities and Challenges in a Growing Digital Home Market

This IDC study reviews the current state of the media center PC market worldwide and in the United States. It also forecasts unit shipments and revenue to 2010. Included in this analysis is a review of the PC industry's competitive position in its efforts to boost PC penetration in the digital home market.

"In the short term, the PC industry will make concerted efforts to raise consumer awareness of media center PCs, and this year nearly 6 million media center PCs will ship worldwide. These systems will have the necessary software and hardware to qualify as media center units, with both the media center OS and combined TV tuner?remote control. In the longer term, based on the most likely forecast scenario, the worldwide shipments of media center PCs will expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 41.3% for the period of 2005?2010, with the U.S. market increasing at a CAGR of 34% for the same period. In 2010, we expect worldwide unit shipments to reach 27.5 million units, with 9.5 million of those units absorbed in the United States, generating a worldwide revenue opportunity of $29.4 billion. The U.S. revenue opportunity in 2010 is $12.6 billion," says David Daoud, research manager, Personal Computing and PC Tracker programs.