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Bye-bye PC, hello smartphone

Here are two views of the world. The technology industry is tumbling into an abyss, as a global economic anxiety attack makes consumers ever more reluctant to spend. Or, despite the gloom, gadget hounds refuse to stop buying the latest devices as the mobile internet takes off. Take your pick, according to two new sets of figures from firm Gartner.

Yesterday the research firm published figures on the PC market in Western Europe. They showed that overall shipments fell by 11.4% in the third quarter of 2011 compared with the same period last year.
The consumer market saw bigger falls, down 18%, despite the fact that this period usually sees sales boosted up back-to-school purchases. Of the five biggest players, all except Asus and Apple - which both enjoyed growth of around 20% - saw chunky falls in sales.