Issue 87


December 2010 Incorporating


COMMENT


PCR CONTACTS Editor


Andrew Wooden andrew.wooden@intentmedia.co.uk


Staff Writer Matt Grainger matt.grainger@intentmedia.co.uk


Staff Writer Nicky Trup nicky.trup@intentmedia.co.uk


Editorial Production Manager Helen French helen.french@intentmedia.co.uk


Managing Editor Lisa Foster


lisa.foster@intentmedia.co.uk


Senior Sales Executive Carly Bailey carly.bailey@intentmedia.co.uk


Senior Sales Executive Jodie Holdway


jodie.holdway@intentmedia.co.uk


Production Executive Rosie McKeown rosie.mckeown@intentmedia.co.uk


Designer Kelly Sambridge kelly.sambridge@intentmedia.co.uk


Publisher Stuart Dinsey stuart.dinsey@intentmedia.co.uk


Marketing & Circulation Lindsay Banham lindsay.banham@intentmedia.co.uk


“It’s the nature of such a dynamic market as this to constantly be leaning towards the next big thing.”


DIFFERENCE OF OPINION IT’S BEEN a hell of a year. In the last 12 months, we’ve seen American giant Best Buy shake up the whole retail sector by setting up shop this side of the pond, one-time underdog Apple’s market value overtake that of Microsoft, and the industry was forced to take a closer look at the conditions in which some of the most lucrative products are produced, following a spate of suicides in Foxconn’s Chinese plants. Apart from the recession – which would have been alleviated immediately if the IMF had a penny for every column inch written on the subject – three of the biggest themes in the technology industry during 2010 were 3D, tablet PCs and cloud computing.


In one sense this is totally understandable, as these are


three of the most cutting edge sectors – though none could strictly be called ‘new’. It’s the nature of such a dynamic market as this to constantly be leaning towards the next big thing, and practically all of the major vendors are investing significantly in at least one of these areas.


Those companies at the top of the technology food chain


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are very good at kicking up lots of excitement and anticipation about these burgeoning sectors, but for all their enthusiasm it has to be said that in the UK neither 3D technology, tablets or data cloud implementation have had a massive impact on the mainstream population quite yet. Though we wouldn’t accuse the manufacturing giants of hyperbole in this respect, the enthusiasm for these products is much less obvious when you ask those tasked with actually selling the kit. Our Channel Survey 2010 reveals some interesting dichotomies between attitudes at the opposite ends of the market, from international manufacturing giants to small, local PC stores. According to our research, retail isn’t universally convinced it can make serious money from what have been the last year’s biggest buzzwords. It may take another year for those on the frontline to join in the top tier firms’ chorus of enthusiasm.


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Subscriptions Manager: Hannah Short, Hannah.Short@intentmedia.co.uk December PCR 3 Andrew Wooden, Editor andrew.wooden@intentmedia.co.uk


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