Windows 8 Blamed For Biggest PC Shipment Plunge Ever

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We seriously need new analysts. According to IDC, computer shipments haven't slowed because of the ongoing global economic crisis. The reason people are holding off on upgrades and new purchases is because of Windows 8. :rolleyes: Thanks to MacLeod for the linkage.

Global PC shipments fell by 13.9 percent in the first quarter of 2013, and according to analyst firm IDC , Windows 8 could very well be the reason. “At this point, unfortunately, it seems clear that the Windows 8 launch not only failed to provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market,” said Bob O’Donnell, IDC Program Vice President, Clients and Displays.
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Yes, the assumption that it is Windows 8 is ridiculous. Mac sales have also been decreasing due to cannibalization by the iPad and Tim Cook admitted as much in earnings calls. His comment was "if we don't cannibalize Mac sales with the iPad, someone else will.

Couple tablets with overall economic slowdown and you can see why PC sales have fallen. I won't claim Windows 8 didn't have any impact at all, but to put it all at the feet of Windows 8 is just ludicrous.
 
Yes I'm sure absolutely none of this has to do with how little money a lot of people have to spend these days, myself included. With hourly cuts, restructuring of corporations thanks to Share Holder wackjobs who think only profit matters and absolutely nothing else. I'm sure none of that contributed at all to the decline of PC sales.
 
Blaming Windows 8 is such unfettered bullshit. I've been using 8 64bit for months, and it is a fantastic OS. It fixed SO many glitches and hardware incompatibilities that 7 never got close to addressing. Blame an OS? More like people are FINALLY skittish about buying the newest, sparkliest thing when they aren't really sure what's going to happen to their next paycheck.
 
Hear that distant rumbling? It's the I-Hate-Win8 trolls.stampeding to fill this thread with negativity.

Because obviously THIS analyst is actually right. No it has nothing to do with the fact they share your opinion. There is no other variables at all to consider why computer shipments are down. /sarcasm.
 
Evil said:
Yes I'm sure absolutely none of this has to do with how little money a lot of people have to spend these days, myself included. With hourly cuts, restructuring of corporations thanks to Share Holder wackjobs who think only profit matters and absolutely nothing else. I'm sure none of that contributed at all to the decline of PC sales.
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Tablet and smartphone sales are soaring, though. The only devices that were hurt were PCs. A global economic recession is a valid argument if it affected them all, but it hasn't.
 
Just to give you a sense of how bad it is:

Samsung has sold more smartphones in the same time than all of the PC OEMs combined.
 
I switched o windows 8 on my main machine, installed it on my HTPC, and bought a copy to install on my girlfriend's laptop. There's nothing wrong with it (aside from the netflix app wanting to crash sometimes and the fact that VLC has an issue with the sleep function, but those are issues with applications, not with the OS).

I am perfectly happy using it as my primary OS and it is no less intuitive than any other OS I've used.

Haters, get over it.
 
Yeah, this is bull.

The global economic climate is to blame for reduction in PC sales, not Windows 8.

I don't much care for Windows 8 myself, but blaming it for this is a little ridiculous.

As is blaming tablets. Tablets are a complement to computers, not a replacement. You simply can't do most of what you do on a computer on a tablet. Tablets - at most - have had a marginal impact.

It's all the economy, stupid. With the help of the economy (and their geek friends who know how to do a RAM upgrade) people are finally discovering that they don't NEED a new computer when their old one gets slow, they can do a clean install, and add some ram, and hold onto it for another few years until they feel more comfortable about their economic situation...
 
Zarathustra[H];1039788781 said:
It's all the economy, stupid. With the help of the economy (and their geek friends who know how to do a RAM upgrade) people are finally discovering that they don't NEED a new computer when their old one gets slow, they can do a clean install, and add some ram, and hold onto it for another few years until they feel more comfortable about their economic situation...
Click to expand...

My company is doing this btw.

They have ceased all computer upgrades of functioning units corporate wide, instead buying RAM upgrades for those who complain.

I'm on a 5 year old Centrino2 Dell laptop at work, and recently got upgraded from 2GB to 4GB. It's not perfect, but for MS Office, Web apps and statistical software, it does just fine. Why would they buy more computers?
 
Zara, in emerging markets where people still need PCs, tablets have actually been picking up in sales whereas PCs have declined.

It's not a global recession that's to blame here. Win8 shares some of it and, as does not having the need to upgrade if you've bought in the past 5 years, but a global recession hasn't impacted smartphones and tablets.
 
pelo said:
Just to give you a sense of how bad it is:

Samsung has sold more smartphones in the same time than all of the PC OEMs combined.
Click to expand...

Except Samsung's phones are subsidized whereas computers are not.
 
Most people (consumers) upgrade thier OS when the buy a new PC.
With Windows 7, PC sales went up as people bought new systems to upgrade to Windows 7.

If Windows 8 was such a great improvement over Windows 7, people would be buying new systems so they could upgrade to Windows 8. Instead, alot of people are deciding to hang onto thier old Windows 7 PC because they don't want Windows 8.

If it's the economy, then why are people buying expensive iPads, that cost more than a laptop?

I'm sure some of the hit is due to tablet/smart phone sales, but Windows 8 is more to blame.
Unless Microsoft does something (like bring back the default start button for non-touch screen systems), Windows 7 is going to be around for a LONG time.
 
In other news, Microsoft releases Windows 7 Classic as a PC option :)
 
Azhar said:
Except Samsung's phones are subsidized whereas computers are not.
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Depends on where they're sold. Many countries don't do any sort of subsidizing. Still, there was an uptick across the board regardless of location. This also doesn't explain why tablets are selling that well and PCs are down.

I'm not blaming Win8 (entirely). I think PC sales would have dipped regardless of Win8 being a success or disaster or anthing in between, but it's ultimately up to MS to stimulate that market as it's their cash cow. If the PC space is having trouble, MS is having trouble. So, no, it isn't Win8's fault, but MS certainly deserves some blame here.
 
nutzo said:
If it's the economy, then why are people buying expensive iPads, that cost more than a laptop?
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think of it another way: SINCE it's the economy, customers are left with a choice - iPads or computers - and iPads probably make more sense to most of them rather than buying a desktop for their home and laptop for mobility.
 
I think it's a function of Global Economy, Market Saturation(for desktop needs), and Cannibalization from Tablets and smartphones. I will also throw in the variable of Technological progress. The internals are much more inherently future-proof than they used to be due to price and performance.

Sorry Zara, but I think that tablets being a replacement is a very viable option for many more people than you think. In my use case it supplements it, but for others its better than buying some clunky shit you gotta setup and leave in one place.
 
nutzo, you can also add in Apple's incredible marketing efforts to why people are spending money on expensive ipads instead of a laptop. Apple RDF > Economy (and common sense for that matter.)
 
Zarathustra[H];1039788790 said:
My company is doing this btw.

They have ceased all computer upgrades of functioning units corporate wide, instead buying RAM upgrades for those who complain.

I'm on a 5 year old Centrino2 Dell laptop at work, and recently got upgraded from 2GB to 4GB. It's not perfect, but for MS Office, Web apps and statistical software, it does just fine. Why would they buy more computers?
Click to expand...

Really, for most office systems, just upgrade the RAM and replace old spinning disks with small SSDs... and it will be like a whole new system has been dropped on their desks. God I wish our company would move to SSDs....
 
farscapesg1 said:
Really, for most office systems, just upgrade the RAM and replace old spinning disks with small SSDs... and it will be like a whole new system has been dropped on their desks. God I wish our company would move to SSDs....
Click to expand...

Ditto. They don't seem to be willing to spend the money on SSD's though.

because it would make my life so much better, I have considered doing it on my own, just duplicating the corporate image onto the new drive. I'm sure they wouldn't like it, but they don't have to know :p
 
pelo said:
Zara, in emerging markets where people still need PCs, tablets have actually been picking up in sales whereas PCs have declined.

It's not a global recession that's to blame here. Win8 shares some of it and, as does not having the need to upgrade if you've bought in the past 5 years, but a global recession hasn't impacted smartphones and tablets.
Click to expand...

How many times are you going to say that in the same thread? We read what you said the first time. :rolleyes:

I'm glad you think a person buying a subsidized cellphone is the same as companies putting a complete freeze on PC purchases is the same thing. Companies are laying off at record rates, they are cutting spending everywhere they can and delaying upgrades as long as they possibly can to help their bottom line. Hell, companies like Sony are selling whole BUILDINGS to make a profit.

The average person is putting off most purchases that aren't considered a neccessity and, if they have a 3 year old Windows 7 PC that works, upgrading is not considered a neccessity.

But yeah, it's Windows 8's fault.
 
Win8 may be a fine operating system for those that have actually used it. A large part of the issue here is that people are afraid of it and have been lead to avoid it due to the negative press So, while it may not be the fact that Win8 is a bad OS and that has led to a decline, I do think the negative general attitude toward it is a contributing factor.
 
Zarathustra[H];1039788790 said:
My company is doing this btw.

They have ceased all computer upgrades of functioning units corporate wide, instead buying RAM upgrades for those who complain.

I'm on a 5 year old Centrino2 Dell laptop at work, and recently got upgraded from 2GB to 4GB. It's not perfect, but for MS Office, Web apps and statistical software, it does just fine. Why would they buy more computers?
Click to expand...

I bought quite a few Dell Optiplex 780 USFF for ~$200 each. e8400, 4GB, 250GB. Perfect for Office 2007 and 2010, Windows 7.

I don't see the need to upgrade my business PC's for another 5 years. I'd blame Intel for doing such a great job with the Core 2 cpu's. :D

However, we ARE buying an iPad Mini for a Point of Sale system. I never thought I'd see myself buying Apple hardware for business.
 
A large part of the blame can also be put onto how stable Win 7/whatever Macintosh is up to as well as how fast current PCs are.

Windows 7 is far, far more stable than XP ever was. Back in the XP days, when the OS would corrupt itself many people would just go out and buy another PC.

Likewise, when hardware got dated (4-5 years) people would go out and buy a PC. But the laptops from 2009 are still plenty fast - and will be for a long time, for the average user.

There is just little reason to buy new computers as quick due to the speed and stability of modern operating systems for the average person.
 
If you speak with the sales people at Microcenter, especially in the laptop area, they will tell you their was steep drop-off in sales of laptops once they started shipping with Windows 8.
 
Maybe it is because currently there is no reason to upgrade your personal computers. My system does everything I want and more and why do I even need to upgrade a graphics card ? well I don't being most games are just console ports.
 
It's true for me I didn't buy an Asus last week because it has windows 8 on it. I'm too lazy to change it to windows 7 LOL
 
Most people's home computers are more than adequate for the web-based world we live in. They need to email, browse the web, and post photos of their kids on facebook. They don't need a new laptop unless the one they have breaks and if their tablet can do the job almost as well then they'll probably just use that. I know several people, frankly, that rarely use their laptops or desktop computers since they got tablets. They just don't see the point since they only ever used it for email/web browsing.

We're no longer in a world where you need outlook to do your home email or MS office day to day at home. With all the clean web-based email interfaces and access to that web-based mail on your phones and tablets ... why bother? I used to run all my email through a computer using Thunderbird but I haven't touched that in years now. I have a computer with Windows 8 as a gaming machine. If I wasn't doing PC gaming I certainly wouldn't have bought the thing and probably would have just picked up a Windows 8 Pro tablet with a dock and monitor. That would have sufficed for what I do at home outside of gaming.

Also, as already noted, Apple has admitted themselves that desktop and laptop sales are being cannibalized by tablet sales. If Apple is willing to admit that tablets are hurting laptop/pc sales then why aren't others?
 
I thing some people are missing the point about Windows 8. Looking past what we think about it - it's hard to miss all of the negative articles about it. Mainstream sites are littered with articles on how divisive it is. Even my backwater extended family seemed to have heard it was "horrible."
I don't think it's *just* Windows 8 to blame, but it doesn't exactly have a good reputation right now. I can pretty much guarantee it isn't helping, and this is coming from someone who has it installed and doesn't mind it.
 
SixFootDuo said:
If you speak with the sales people at Microcenter, especially in the laptop area, they will tell you their was steep drop-off in sales of laptops once they started shipping with Windows 8.
Click to expand...

Maybe they're all buying Windows RT tablets instead. :D
 
farscapesg1 said:
Really, for most office systems, just upgrade the RAM and replace old spinning disks with small SSDs... and it will be like a whole new system has been dropped on their desks. God I wish our company would move to SSDs....
Click to expand...

I have some old P4's I've upgraded to Windows 7 32 bit with old/slow IDE drives and 2GB ram max.
It's amazing the improvement they get from just adding a cheap 8GB thumb drive and enabling readyboost.

Windows 7 32 bit, Office 2010 & Readyboost, runs noticably faster than XP/office 2003 on these old systems.
 
pelo said:
Zara, in emerging markets where people still need PCs, tablets have actually been picking up in sales whereas PCs have declined.

It's not a global recession that's to blame here. Win8 shares some of it and, as does not having the need to upgrade if you've bought in the past 5 years, but a global recession hasn't impacted smartphones and tablets.
Click to expand...

I disagree.

It's no mystery that smart phones and tablets have been growing explosively, and in emerging markets and among lower income young people they may be trying to use these devices instead of computers, but these are people who likely would not have had computers even if they couldn't buy a smartphone or tablet.

Saying that the economy has not impacted tablet/smartphone sales is a completely unverifiable statement to make, as no one knows what those sales would have looked like if the market had not crashed. Chances are very good they would have been even higher.

The repeatedly reported "end of the PC is near" bs. is just not supported by observable fact. Yes, tablets and smartphones are growing explosively, but they are also a new tech, and while some small aspects of what computers are used for can be done with them they can't (at least not yet) wholesale replace computers.

The downturn in PC sales is almost exclusively due to people and businesses making due with what they have in the face of income insecurity.
 
Another thing to consider in this is that historically the biggest competitor of a new version of Windows is a prior version of Windows. Indeed given the success of Windows 7 AND tablets Windows 8 is facing very stiff competition.

Bottom line, the decline in PCs sales is a multifaceted issue. Windows 8 itself is part of it, but really, does anyone really think that by simply putting back the Start Button/Menu would have put PCs sales on the upswing this quarter? Sure, the changes probably didn't impact sales but not to this extent.

And since this downturn was expected though not to this degree I don't think it's time for the panic alarm just yet for Windows 8. Blue is coming, Metro Office apps, Haswell, Bay Trail along with 7" Surface devices and slowly but surely more Metro apps. We'll really know a lot more about the fate of Windows 8 starting with the Blue preview in a couple of months and the new hardware coming in the 3rd and 4th quarters. If this trend continues then it's time to start really worrying.
 
To be fair, most people have no idea about Windows 8. They would think it works a lot like Windows XP, Vista, and 7. The only way they'll know is if they actually buy a PC with Windows 8 pre-installed. People who know, will get a PC and install Windows 7, or build it themselves.

If it were true, then people should be buying Mac's, which isn't the case. Most likely their PC is fast enough, and that's that.
 
While I'm happy with Win 8 on my laptop, my workstation with tons of files just fares better with Win 7 because it's easier for me to find stuff.

It wouldn't hurt MS to offer free downgrades to calm the media and change fearing folks of this world.
In that case the only people who are at a disadvantage are the folks that do get the downgrade, being someone who'd run a new PC with an older operating system.
 
Ashbringer said:
To be fair, most people have no idea about Windows 8. They would think it works a lot like Windows XP, Vista, and 7. The only way they'll know is if they actually buy a PC with Windows 8 pre-installed. People who know, will get a PC and install Windows 7, or build it themselves.

If it were true, then people should be buying Mac's, which isn't the case. Most likely their PC is fast enough, and that's that.
Click to expand...

I have no interested in putting 8 on my desktop or laptop, but I have toyed with the idea of getting it for my HTPC I am building.

They only reason I haven't thus far? You need Windows 8 pro for Windows Media Center, and from what I can tell, even the upgrade version costs $200 :eek:

I can not justify spending $200 on an OS, when I have unused licenses for Vista and XP kicking around, or could run XBMC on linux instead...

The pricing is ridiculous.
 
Nevermind "facts", Windows 8 eats babies and feeds the poop to puppies and then turns around and eats the puppies.
 
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