PC's worst yearly decline in sales

Ivan Nikkhoo, managing editor of Siemer and Associates, talks to CNN about the downturn in PC sales.

全球個人電腦PC市場監測機構IDC和Gartner發布了最新統計數據。兩家數據均顯示今年一季度全球PC銷量出現了超過10%的負增長。而根據IDC的數據，今年一季度全球PC市場更是創下近20年來的最大下滑。 這再次證明，PC的時代正在逝去，計算機行業正在向平板電腦和智能手機等移動設備發展。

PC喪鐘已敲響！世界前五大PC廠商除聯想勉強維持在零增長外，惠普、戴爾、Acer、華碩等均出現了大幅下跌——PC真的要死去了嗎？

I’m joined by Ivan Nicoon who runs a venture capital(風險資本) firm that deals in particularly with technology companies. Great to have you on Quest Means Business, Ivan.

Thanks for having me.

One of the interesting things that we’ve seen, obviously as we move from these great, big, gargantuan(巨大的、龐大的) computers to very mobile(可移動的；機動的) devices, is a whole side industry of applications. That’s why people like you come in.

Well, if you look at the context of it, there are three big developments.

Number one, more and more people like to consume data on apps, not only in a mobile way, but in a personalizing curator way. In other words, I wanna consume what I want, the data on the apps, where I am, when I am and specific to me.

And number two, the erosion of pricing on the tablets means that it is more and more affordable for larger masses to get it.

And number three, and probably the most important. Now you have the universal applications that are available for mobile devices at a point where it is a critical mass and everybody uses them. The developer communities really provide applications for the mobile devices in a way that is absolutely usable for not only consumers but enterprise as well.

So this one operating system that everybody can use and different companies can code towards, if you like.

Well, there is more than one obviously. The two dominant ones being Android and of course, Apple’s. But the implications are probably somewhat more important and it’s reflected by the valuations of companies that you see in the market.

First and foremost, I don’t believe that this is a stand-alone trend, I think the trends will continue and the erosion of the price of the tablets will apply more and more pressure on the PC manufacturer. So I think we’re gonna see that’s gonna hurt more and more in absence of the strategy to provide something in the mobile sector.

The other one is the opportunities in the mobile sector are absolutely enormous. If you look at the valuation of companies that are providing for the mobile industry, whether it’s mobile advertising, you get mobile monetization(鑄幣；貨幣化) of video or anything else that goes with it, versus the same companies that do on the online business, the evaluation parameters are absolutely different.

Yes, and there’s tons of those companies. Ever so(非常) briefly, do you think we’re gonaa see the death of the PC by the end of, say, this decade? I mean, the death bell’s been ringing for some time.

You know, I doubt that very much. Because the enterprise is very used to using the same model for some time to come, and do you remember, we’ve been talking about the death of PC for a very long time. I doubt that very much. I think the usage of it will differ. I think the type of PCs we will use will differ and they will become somewhat more application-centric for what we want. They have to be significantly more agile(敏捷的；靈巧的). But no.

Ok, Ivan Nicoon, thank you very much for coming on Quest Means Business this evening.

It’s a pleasure. Thank you.