• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, March 31, 2006

Following a three-year decline, computing products' share of online advertising will stabilize this year, and rise slightly in 2007, according to an eMarketer "Technology Marketing" report released Thursday. The report specifically cites Microsoft, which is marketing heavily this year, despite the delayed release of its Windows Vista operating system until January 2007.

Online spending by the computer products sector will grow 21 percent this year to reach $2.34 billion from $1.94 billion in 2005--but remain at 15 percent of all online spending. In 2004, the computer tech sector made up 18 percent of online ad dollars--$1.73 billion out of $9.6 billion, and 20 percent in 2003--$1.46 billion out of $7.3 billion.

In 2007, the computing category will spend $2.8 billion advertising online, which would amount to a raised share of total online spending at 16 percent, eMarketer forecasts.

Computers and software as an online ad category is second only to "consumer-related" products, according to eMarketer.

The report cites flat PC sales, while the sale of LCD and plasma TVs and MP3 players like Apple's iPod continue to accelerate.

One company to look for over the next year is Lenovo, which took over IBM's ThinkPad PC business in 2005. "This time next year, Lenovo's advertising spending will no doubt place it among the top five spenders in the category," stated eMarketer senior analyst Lisa Phillips in the report. Other top spenders include Apple, Dell, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM.