IDC report says rise of home offices means a growing PC market for U.S. households -- The portable computer market may be growing faster than the market for desktops, in part because of the rising number of home offices in the United States, according to a report by IDC. The number of home offices in the U.S. will grow from 33.1 million at the end of 2004 to 37.7 million by 2009, meaning an increase of customers likely to purchase advanced, portable, or multiple PCs, analyst Merle Sandler said on Monday. IDC defines home offices as those used by telecommuters or employees working after-hours as well as income-generating offices. Household PC penetration is near 90 percent. Within those households, at the end of 2004 portable computers were at 43.4 percent and growing. At the end of 2003, that number was 42 percent. �Households with home offices are less likely to let the kids near the computers, because of the important information in them. So they�re more likely to buy computers for students to do their homework on,� said Ms. Sandler, lead author of the June 8 report. �Home offices continue to upgrade or add additional PCs, especially higher-margin portable PCs.�
The global streaming industry has spent the better part of a decade chasing subscriber counts as the primary metric of success. That era is now formally over. New market data from Omdia confirms that the industry has crossed a decisive threshold; one that shifts the competitive playing field from growth-at-all-costs to monetization discipline. For senior executives navigating media, advertising, and technology strategy, the implications extend well beyond entertainment. A Historic Revenue Crossover Online video revenue increased 13.5 percent to $176 billion in 2025, while pay-TV revenue declined 4 percent to $170 billion; marking the first time in the industry's history that streaming has surpassed legacy pay-TV in revenue terms. This is not a rounding error or a statistical artifact; it represents the culmination of more than a decade of structural disruption to the traditional broadcast and cable TV model. Global subscriptions to online video services reached 2.24 billion by the ...