Research firm IDC on Thursday lowered its estimate for the growth of personal computer shipments for the year, as second-half shipments will be hurt by a "persistently bleak employment outlook" in the United States.
IDC expects growth of 11.8 percent in the second half of the year, which prompted it to lower its full-year growth estimate to 17 percent from an earlier forecast of 19.8 percent.
It now sees 356. 6 million PCs shipped in 2010 compared with 304.9 million in 2009.
The downgraded view follows research firm Gartner Inc.'s decision Tuesday to cut its forecast for second-half growth by 2 percentage points to 15.3 percent.
IDC says its forecast fits with a "slow and steady recovery."
The company lowered its forecasts for laptop computers as emerging devices like Apple Inc.'s iPad cut into the growth of netbook computers.
The business PC market is expected to buoy overall sales even as consumer PC growth slows.
The U.S. market is expected to grow 10 percent to 78.4 million units in 2010, while growth outside the U.S. is expected to grow at a faster 19 percent to 278.2 million units.
