Icy News: PC Makers, Microsoft May Be Hurt as Floods Crimp Sales, IDC Says

"Hewlett-Packard Co., Lenovo Group Ltd., Dell Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are among companies that may be hurt this quarter and in 2012 as flooding in Thailand strains personal-computer supplies and raises prices, IDC said.

PC shipments will decline between 2.2 percent and 3.4 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, down from a prior forecast for 5.1 percent growth, IDC said today in a report. In the first quarter, shipments may drop by 1.8 percent to 13.4 percent. IDC had projected a gain of 8.2 percent..." - via Bussinessweek

The news is out that the hard drive market will take a plunge for OEM, resellers and end users. This is unfortunate as the holiday season is coming up and is unclear how long it will really take for end users to see decreased prices. Once the flooding has been sorted out, the production will go first to OEM, followed by resellers and end users. Anything that uses hard drives will most likely take a hit from the disaster, but notice Seagate plants seems to be not flooded but their supply chain has. If you look at the prices for hard drives, externals seem to be about the same or lower price in comparison to bare hard drives. Yesterday, we posted similar news which focused on India's demand, but event really caused a world wide change in the market. What do you think about this?  Let us know!