March 8th, 2000

[8:00 AM] IDC Predicting 20% Growth In PC Sales, Apple To Benefit by Staff CBS MarketWatch is reporting that IDC, a market research firm, forecasts PC unit volume will grow by 20% in 2000, that's somewhat better than earlier forecasts in the 18% range from First Call and other sources. John Brown of IDC told CBS Market Watch that "IDC expects the commercial market to show more robust growth this year than last, starting with a pickup in demand this quarter." According to Brown the PC manufacturers most likely to benefit from the higher growth rate are Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, and Apple. Overall, IDC is suggesting that 2000 will be the last hooray for the explosive growth we have seen in the PC industry for the last few years. For other stories regarding Apple's stock activity, visit our Apple Stock Watch Special Report. The Mac Observer Spin: While some of the increased market growth is undoubtedly due to a round of forced upgrades to accommodate the stiff system demands of Win2000, as well as demand for GHz PCs, much of the market gains according to IDC will come from the 32% year over year growth in the Asia-Pacific region and Japan. This is Apple's strongest region. Mac popularity has soared in Asia since the event of the iMac and we expect Apple to grow at a considerably better pace than the rest of the PC vendors. Should IDC's forecasts prove correct, 2000 should be another banner year for Apple. Apple