• by Paul Gough , November 17, 2003

Three years after the PC industry began showing signs of weakness, there are indications that it's coming back. Retail sales of computer products increased 8 percent to $21.7 billion in the first nine months of 2003, according to a study released this morning by The NPD Group. That compares to growth of 2.8 percent for the same period in 2002.

But that doesn't mean that there's a run on high-budget computers at your local Best Buy or Staples. Overall computer sales are mostly flat, with a 16.2 percent increase in notebook computers dampened by a 12 percent drop in desktop computers. Notebook computers account for $2.7 billion in sales so far in 2003, 12.4 percent of the market, compared to desktop computers' $2.65 billion or 12.2 percent.

Top Sales Growth Categories
Category	2002 Year-to-Date	2003 Year-to-Date	Year-over-Year Growth
Blank DVD Media	$21M	$105M	400%
DVD Burners	$29M	$131M	348%
Wireless Networking Gear	$203M	$455M	124%
Digital Memory	$295M	$561M	90%
LCD Monitors	$551M	$957M	73%
Multi-Function Devices	$699M	$1.11B	58%
Hard Drives	$312M	$407M	31%
Keyboards	$99M	$128M	28%
Source: The NPD Group/NPD Techworld

More than $5 billion in sales were recorded in paper and ink, NPD Group said. The items that have shown the most growth include blank DVDs (400 percent), DVD burners (348 percent), wireless network gear (124 percent) and digital memory (90 percent).

"Clearly the popularity of new technologies such as digital cameras, LCD monitors and wireless computing has opened up pent-up demand and renewed consumers' interest in PC products," said Stephen Baker, NPD's direcor of industry analysis, in a prepared statement. "Robust sales numbers such as these are clear evidence that consumers are responding to these new technologies by opening up their wallets again."

--Paul J. Gough