PC Retail

While the national press has found itself with a veritable well of stories surrounding the expanding fallout of what essentially stemmed from some dodgy house mortgage decisions in the US, many businesses and whole industries are being battered by this downturn.

Currently, the PC market is not one of them. Quite the opposite in fact – PC sales are growing, and many of the companies integral to their construction and supply are experiencing very strong (and in some cases, record breaking) financial quarters.

So, are the IT and PC industries immune to the economic strife blighting the bulk of the Western world? The short answer is no. But the resilience they are showing is much more pronounced than in many other sectors.

Of course the economic reasons behind this are complex and intertwined, but if you were to pick out the chief factor of the PCs industry's success in the face of such wider economic adversity, it would have to be the very cheap laptops flooding the market.

But this is no knight in shining armour – the very presence of these machines has been the subject of much contention, especially amongst small retailers flabbergasted as to how they are supposed to make even a nod towards a margin selling sub £200 laptops.

"They're subsidised, not free"

This ties in with the news that mobile network operators Orange and 3 will be joining Carphone Warehouse in offering subsidised laptops (those responsible insist the laptops aren't free, but in effect they aren't asking any money for the units themselves).

These cheap machines are bolstering the health of the industry, but many will be asking at what cost this comes. Apart from the reduced margins such low spec, cut price PCs commands – many fear the devaluation of the personal computer into a disposable commodity.

This, of course, doesn't bode well for a sector that thrives on after sales service, upgrades and repairs. While it's true that this new wave of cheap laptops are currently carrying the PC sector, the more cynical observers will be asking whether, in the end, this cure is worse than the disease.