Global Q2 shipments in the “traditional” PC market, including desktops, notebooks and workstations, increased 4.7 percent to 64.9 million units, reported IDC Thursday. The growth rate was “notably higher than expected as the easing of supply shortages combined with looming trade tensions to propel the market forward,” it said. “Supply for Intel's processors improved markedly during the quarter, allowing most PC vendors to fulfill old orders while also shipping a healthy supply of new PCs into the channels.” The threat of List 4 Section 301 tariffs on computer imports from China also “led some PC makers to ship a surplus of desktops and notebooks, thereby artificially propping up the PC market during the second quarter,” said IDC. Lenovo leapfrogged HP to take the market leadership position with 25.1 percent share to HP’s 23.7 percent, it said.

Attendees at FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 used contactless payment technology for 51 percent of purchases, via smartphones, contactless cards, payment-enabled wristbands and wearables, said Visa Wednesday. The match between U.S. and Chile in Parc de Princes, Paris, had the highest amount spent in-stadium in a single match, accounting for about 14 percent of the total spend to date, it said.

U.S. broadband homes likely to cut the cord in the next 12 months watch more than six hours of video content on their mobile phone a week, vs. 2.5 hours among all broadband households, blogged Parks Associates Monday. The trend led MVPDs including Comcast and Charter to launch mobile services as a way to extend their services-based product portfolios, it said, noting one in 10 broadband subscribers is likely to cut broadband, with half likely to make the change in the next 12 months. Many subscribers are satisfied with their current provider overall, but they're aware of other available options and could cut the cord if their current service doesn’t “continually meet their needs,” said analyst Brett Sappington. Two-thirds of broadband households currently subscribe to a cable internet service and three in 10 subscribe to DSL or fiber; a third use mobile data services. Potential broadband cord-cutters rely on their mobile devices for entertainment and are “significantly more likely to watch” live video content via mobile, including live TV broadcasts and livestreaming, averaging an hour more per week each compared with average broadband households, Sappington said. As 5G mobile and 10G fixed broadband services start to deploy, substantial performance improvements will be attractive to this segment of subscribers, Parks said.

Safety and security concerns are what drive the vast majority of Information Technology Industry Council member companies to limit device repairs to “authorized/qualified” service technicians, and not third-party repair outfits or do-it-yourselfers, said a September survey the trade group submitted to the FTC’s “Nixing the Fix” inquiry. The filing, posted Tuesday in docket FTC-2019-0013, was submitted at the agency’s April 30 deadline for "empirical research" to help staff prepare for a July 16 workshop on whether manufacturer repair restrictions can thwart the consumer protections in the 1975 Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (see 1903130060). All the survey respondents “indicated intellectual property and/or proprietary information would be at risk in using an unauthorized/untrained repair provider,” said ITI. All also cited the “risk to user safety in using an unauthorized/untrained repair provider,” while 83 percent identified the “risk to data security” as their rationale for barring third-party or self-repair, it said. Three-quarters of the members responding “require authorized/qualified providers to protect privacy and data through contractual requirements and OEM practices/procedures,” it said. ITI didn’t comment Wednesday on how many members participated in the survey or why it predated the initiation of the Nixing the Fix inquiry by about six months. The 22 filings posted this week in docket FTC-2019-0013 were virtually all the agency received by its April 30 deadline for submissions of empirical research into manufacturer repair restrictions, emailed spokesperson Juliana Gruenwald Wednesday. Though the deadline for research submissions has lapsed, the FTC said it will accept written comments in the proceeding through Sept. 16.

Consumer intentions to buy new TV sets fell slightly in June from May, according to preliminary Conference Board data released Tuesday. Nielsen canvassed 5,000 U.S. homes through June 14 and found 12.3 percent plan to buy a new TV set in the next six months, said the board. That was down from 12.6 percent in May, but up from 11.1 percent in April and 11.2 percent in June 2018, it said. Consumer confidence declined in June to its lowest level since September 2017 after three straight months of increases, it said: “The escalation in trade and tariff tensions earlier this month appears to have shaken consumers’ confidence.”

More than 20 billion Wi-Fi devices are expected to ship globally between now and 2024, with “continued growth in traditional markets” the main driver, reported ABI Research Thursday. A secondary source of growth will be in mesh networking systems, smart home, automotive and IoT applications, it said. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Wi-Fi, and the technology “shows no signs of slowing down,” said ABI. “Wi-Fi 6 is quickly gaining momentum in networking devices, while client devices are already arriving into the market and are anticipated to ramp up considerably over the next 12-18 months.”

The U.S. tech unemployment rate fell to a record low of 1.3 percent in May, said a CompTIA analysis Friday of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. An estimated 5,800 new hires were added to the tech sector workforce in May, it said: “The data confirms what employers have been saying for months and even years -- the demand for tech talent has reached historic levels.” There exists the “very real prospect of tech worker shortages affecting industry growth,” it said.

Esports, once on the fringe of gaming culture, has “exploded in popularity” in recent years, with major competitions attracting more than 100,000 spectators and streaming channels including Twitch drawing millions of viewers for esports broadcasts, said Futuresource Tuesday. Overall industry revenue is forecast to exceed $900 million this year, with an 18 percent compound annual growth rate to $1.8 billion through 2023. As key events attract viewing numbers comparable to tier 1 sporting competitions, securing exclusivity of major esports events will become important for traditional sports broadcasters and large esports streaming platforms, it said. Esports requires specific high-performance gaming PCs with advanced graphics and various gaming-related peripherals, and players typically carry their own keyboard and mouse to tournaments, with related peripherals including AV equipment for streaming, premium mics and headsets, HD webcams and gaming chairs. Competition among the PC and AV brands is expected to intensify in esports including specific solutions designed for schools and colleges, while major vendors look for sponsorship opportunities in key tournaments and with high-profile players. The U.S. leads the global field of esports PCs with 25 percent share, followed by Asia Pacific with 23.8 percent and Western Europe with 21.1 percent, Futuresource said.

Counties with high-speed internet enjoy unemployment rates about 0.26 percentage points lower than counties with low speeds, said University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Oklahoma State University researchers. The study announced by and partially funded by the Fiber Broadband Association looked at 95 Tennessee counties 2011-2016. It said broadband presumably "facilitates efficiency, heightens productivity and ... fosters innovation." It said better quality broadband disproportionately benefits rural areas more than urban ones.

Global demand for personal computing devices, including “traditional” PCs and tablets, is expected to decline 3 percent in 2019 to 392.5 million units, said IDC Monday. It expects shipments to decline at a compound annual growth rate of 1.6 percent the next five years, reaching 367.7 million units in 2023, it said. A 2.6 percent rise in average selling prices is expected to keep dollar growth flat this year at $237 billion, despite the unit decline, said IDC. “The consumer side of the market will remain challenged,” with shipments declining 6 percent this year, and CAGR declining 2.7 percent through 2023, it said.