Posted on 04/17/2013 8:30:32 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Don't blame Windows 8 for plummeting PC sales, a retail analyst said today.
"It wasn't about Windows 8, it was much more about the price challenges facing OEMs," said Stephen Baker of the NPD Group, citing U.S. retail sales data the firm collected in the first quarter. "People want cheap touch devices, and that's where Windows 8 devices can't compete right now."
While IDC and Gartner last week said U.S. PC shipments dropped 13% and 10% in the first quarter compared to the same three-month span in 2012, Baker said retail sales were essentially flat.
And rather than blame Windows 8, as IDC did last week, for the poor numbers, Baker said the slow sales stemmed from a lack of touch hardware at prices consumers would swallow.
Windows 8, launched last October, is Microsoft's radical attempt to revitalize its OS by stressing touch over mouse and keyboard.
Touch-ready PC notebooks have been selling at relatively high price points: Baker said such systems averaged $750 during the quarter, with 75% of those above $500. Most buyers balked at those prices, passing on Windows 8 not because they dislike the operating system but because they wouldn't pay the going rate for hardware that exploited it.
Only about 10% of the Windows 8-equipped notebooks sold in the three-month period were touch-enabled.
Until prices come down, Baker said Windows 8 machines will continue to struggle. Those prices don't have to be cut-rate, but they do have to be lower than they are now.
"The operative thing is that they don't all have to be in the $400 to $500 range," Baker said of touch PCs. Consumers see the value in touch, and are willing to pay more. Just not as much as current price tags.
"They have to come down $100, $150," said Baker.
(Excerpt) Read more at computerworld.com ...
RE: A friend has his tablet setup just so as a desktop system.
He must really love working on small screens...
I’m with you. Stupid, stupid move on Microsoft’s part making PC’s with Win8. It is not business friendly. Win8 is a tablet design, not a PC design. They lost their marbles on this one.
Not at all, the hdmi output connects to a 21" monitor.
Last month I bought a Vaio, spending almost $1500 for the tricked out laptop. Took it home, loaded up Office and Adobe Suite and boom; it froze up. Nothing would un-stick it.
Went back and bought a MacBook Pro for a little more $$. No problems.
You’re lucky.
RE; the hdmi output connects to a 21” monitor.
Well there you go, other than the mouse, it’s essentially a smaller version of a laptop.
It’s the economy stupid!
LOL, The tablet has a usb port and he plugs in a usbmouse, usb keyboard, and usb harddrive, in addition to a 21" monitor. I wouldn't want to edit video, but for word processing and outher lite tasks it works well.
That’s what I said, he just converted his tablet to a laptop.
How about market saturation?
Maybe the government will mandate a change that makes all the hundreds of millions of perfectly usable PCs obsolete as was done with TV ?
Will obama offer “cash for clunker computers” so millions of usable PCs are scrapped to benefit Chinese factories and American resellers?
The non-graphic email needs were met with computers of the 80s.
I seriously think few PC users tap a tenth of the current machines potential yet everyone is forced to continually “upgrade” to keep the gamers,show-off programmers, and advertisers happy.
If it wasn’t for all the ad spyware,pushware ads,and other crap my old iMac Lime or Windows 98SE or Me would do fine for my internet use and ,I strongly suspect,that of many others.Certainly MacOS 10.4 Tiger with multiple participant video conferencing built in should suffice!. We had video clips then ;HTML5 isn’t needed just to see a video of someone reading the news or anything else.It is just constant,forced,planned, and totally UNNECCESSARY obsolescence designed to keep the treadmill going.
If these improvements actually made things better and easier I would be much happier.I have had to retire a number of PCs from internet use only because the websites stopped supporting the browser that would run on the OS of those machines,yet what I see on those websites is practically the same as before.
Sounds like a job for linux !
I just don’t understand why anyone would want a touch screen. Your screen needs to be clean but won’t be if you’re eating a jelly donut or cheetos.
A capable tablet with good graphics and a usb port sounds eminently sensible as an everything PC. Use it mobile in tablet form and then stick it into a dock so you then use a fullsize keyboard ,mouse,and large screen monitor.What’s not to like? You don’t have to copy data back and forth,or learn the quirks of two PCs.
Windows 8 is faster and more efficient than Windows 7. Problem is Microsoft put that terrible interface on top of it. There are simple ways to make the interface like Windows 7, but most people don't want to bother.
I’ve already made mine like Windows 7 and I still don’t like it.
Win 8 works fine for me. what is it specifically you don't like ?
Where’s the “Any Key”? It says “To Start Press Any Key.”
When you purchase a new computer you should be able to come home, or to the office, pull it out of the box, connect it and start using it. There shouldn’t be a learning curve added into the mix. That is not the case with Win 8 and if it makes people happier to mock me then go right ahead. That seems to be the way of the world these days.
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