Beancounters working for research firm Gartner have worked out that the number of PCs in the world has finally reached a billion.

It is not clear how they assessed this, but just to make the story more interesting they have decided that this figure will actually double by 2014. This all thanks to the emerging markets who all want to get their own PCs, Gartner thinks.

Mature markets accounted for 58 per cent of the first billion installed PCs, but when all the emerging markets expand, they will only account for the 30 per cent of the next billion.

George Shiffler, research director at Gartner, said that one of the areas that is promoting the growth is the explosive expansion of broadband and wireless. PC prices have dropped and there is a general awakening that PCs are an indispensable tool for a country to advance.

More than 180 million computers will be replaced this year, with some sold to second owners. X