The U.S. PC Market Finds Its Safe Harbors

Jonathan Schwartz writes Sun Microsystems' most recent quarterly

But, he notes, it's not all good news for everyone:

Schwartz may be missing what's going on in other parts of the market, and he may want to start talking to more people in the Heartland. Todd Swank of Nor-Tech, a Burnsville, Minn.-based company which made CRN's list of Top 50 System builders, recently sent out a note to solution providers and resellers talking about the increasingly brisk market for his company's Voyageur PCs:

Gartner Group last week reported 6.4 percent growth in the U.S. PC market for the second quarter, compared to the same quarter in 2005. Some companies - including Apple, Gateway and HP - actually saw double-digit PC growth in the second quarter in the U.S. And then there are system builders like Nor-Tech, which report a strong ongoing PC business. As Schwartz suggested, larger enterprises may be seeing slower growth, but small and mid-sized business are making up for it, according to Gartner's evaluation.

What's more, Gartner said it has seen consumers - the phone-and-gadget-obsessed consumers Schwartz references - leading much of the growth in the U.S. PC business.

Small and mid-sized businesses and consumers appear to be finding value in the combination of low PC prices and ever-increasing performance, functionality and mobility - Vista or no Vista.