Global PC shipments were up 2.3 percent in the third quarter of 2009 ,after three consecutive quarters of losses. The findings are outlined in the latest report from IDC, and attribute the rise to a strengthening consumer market and back-to-school shopping. Notebooks and netbooks buoyed the numbers as consumers continued to prefer portability. Netbook shipments were up 37 percent, versus the previous quarter, and their share of the portable computing market doubled to 28 percent. IDC predicted emerging markets would function as the primary drivers of PC growth in 2010, although indicating that the aging installed base of desktop PC units in businesses and government institutions could spark a resurgence in shipments of those units to developed countries over the next three years.