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 ...
APPLE SALES DOWN TOO. From the article:
Bolstering his view that Windows 8 was not the primary reason for the PC industry’s problems was the fact that Apple also experienced flat sales in the U.S. Apple was as affected by competition from cheap touch tablets — including its own iPad and iPad Mini — as were Windows-powered PCs.
“The market is flat, and no one is outperforming the others,” said Baker, including Apple.
NPD’s data on Macs, collected at point-of-sale for both brick-and-mortar stores like Best Buy and online outlets such as Amazon.com, was out of sync with the estimates from IDC and Gartner. The former pegged Mac shipments as down 7.5% for the first quarter, while the latter tagged them as up 7.4%, an irreconcilable 15-point difference.
Apple will reveal its first-quarter sales figures Tuesday, April 23, in a conference call with Wall Street analysts. Meanwhile, Microsoft will release its quarterly revenue data, including that for Windows, on Thursday, April 18.
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Has anybody considered these factors:
1) Most computers purchased within the last five years can still perform admirably today.
New computers are noticeably better, but for the large swath of consumers who are turning to phones and tablets for all their casual computing, the necessity of regularly buying a new computer has become less pronounced. For those who sit in front of a home PC just a handful of times a week, they are probably fine extending the life of a slightly creaky machine.
2) Even if Windows 8 were the most well-received and critically acclaimed operating system ever, PC sales would probably still slump.
Why? Tablets.
And, maybe “Cloud” work too?
How people are using PC`s is changing. It used to be that desktops were the only game in town to do anything, so sales were brisk.
Now that we have lot more options, it`s expected that what people buy and when they buy them will change. Cellphones have basically taken over most of the multimedia functions for most people, especially the young.
I don`t think this is any crisis, per se.
It couldn’t possibly be that people just don’t have the money for the newest, fastest, sparkly computer on the market right now and have decided to make do with what they have. Most of the time unless you are a gamer or heavy graphics/number cruncher you really don’t gain much for the expense.
It is windows 8 and pretty as all heck- a bit of a pain in the a$$ to get used to until I figured out how to click and bring up the desktop.
Fast as all heck and beautiful graphics.
not sure it is relevant to the discussion here- i just wanted to gloat.
Windows 8 , what ever you call that opening screen, is worthless. It was designed for kids and touch screens or something. Does anyone make a consumer touch screen laptop? Why would you force the main part of the market to suffer through windows 8 if it is designed for a small minority sector of the market?
It’s all temporary. The ipads and iphones sales are being driven by the texting little finger people. Wait until they grow up and those fingers get fatter.
Well, there are MILLIONS of workers in the office who do word processing, spreadsheets, Presentations and light database work.
Can anyone tell me how the heck tablets and smartphones are going to replace what they are so used to?
Well, there are MILLIONS of workers in the office who do word processing, spreadsheets, Presentations and light database work.
Can anyone tell me how the heck tablets and smartphones are going to replace what they are so used to?
Well, there are MILLIONS of workers in the office who do word processing, spreadsheets, Presentations and light database work.
Can anyone tell me how the heck tablets and smartphones are going to replace what they are so used to?
Right on for my Macs. I have two G4 mirror door that work great. My main unit is a 2x2.66 Dual-core Intel Xeon with snow Leopard and works great. Haven't seen any need for more bells and whistles so why bother. Using two externals 1T and 500G with three internal 500G.
I think the kids in charge have a utopian dream of wearing a know all, do all pair glasses so they can see anything they want and talk to anyone they want to.
And many of them are still using older computers, being maintained by IT.
You don’t need the latest computer to do spreadsheets or WP or Powerpoint or Database.
But cellphones have definitely become powerful enough to do just that, if some company wanted to adapt it’s work to the medium. My understanding is that cell phones, powerwise, are only about 5-7 years behind the desktop in terms of capability.
Since the iphone 5 release was such a yawner, it would be a surprise if apple sales are up. Love my $100 tablet !
How come nobody wants to talk about the Obama Depression?
I can't really be the only person in the world holding off getting a new PC until they either "fix" W8, replace it, or someone starts selling PC's with W7 and not charging major bucks to remove W8 from it.
I'm seriously looking into just building my own (with W7).
Why not? Windows 8 sux and we all know it.
My cheap tablet has usb input (mouse, keyboard, usb disk) and Hdmi output (monitor). A friend has his tablet setup just so as a desktop system.
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