New Delhi: Personal computer vendors are now eyeing the booming smartphone market to offset a slump in computer sales, a study by research firm Gartner said.

By the end of 2009, Gartner expects all major PC vendors to announce their presence in the smartphone market.

“As mobile PCs and smartphone capabilities converge, smartphones will increasingly represent a market opportunity that most PC vendors feel they cannot afford to ignore,” Gartner principal research analyst Roberta Cozza said.

Worldwide smartphone sales would grow by 29% year-on-year to reach 180 million units in 2009, overtaking notebooks in total unit terms.

Moreover, from 2009, user spending on smartphones would start to surpass the forecast for consumer notebooks, it added.

At present, smartphones account for 14% of overall mobile device sales, but Gartner expects by 2012 they will make up around 37% of global handset sales.

Smartphone revenue is forecast to reach $191 million by 2012, higher than end user spending on mobile PCs, which is forecast to reach $152 million in 2012.

However, Cozza added, “Understanding of mobile consumer behaviours, competitiveness and positioning of their mobile products, are the barriers that cannot be overcome in the short term. This will limit any PC vendor presence in the smartphone market to low single digits for some time.”