Forecast sales and forecast shipments are two of the most important market research statistics for business planning and industry analysis. Forecasts are used to project future conditions so that business resources can be managed effectively. Sales forecasts and shipment forecasts are very important to the computer industry and the information technology industry because the rapid pace of progress makes for short life spans of hardware and software products.

All forecasts are based on observations of current and past conditions. The better current and past conditions are understood, the more accurate and precise the prediction. It is easier to forecast over shorter time intervals than longer ones.

Approximately 50% of the entries in InfoTech Trends are for sales forecasts and shipment forecasts.

An example on e-commerce follows. All entries are formatted similarly. Each entry is a table, the top describes what is being forecast and the actual forecast itself, and the bottom references the source of the forecast.

Installed base and other market statistrics are available on personal computers, wireless communication, Internet, advertising, networking, e-commerce, portable computers, storage...and more.