Windows Slips To 3rd Place On Latest Device Forecast

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I guess we'll just have to wait until 2017 to see if this prediction comes true or not.

According to Gartner, which provided Computerworld with its forecast broken out by OS, Windows will power about 308 million devices shipped in 2015, a 6% year-over-year decline. The 308 million represents 12.9% of the total of 2.4 billion devices shipped, nearly 80% of that massive number smartphones, and the majority of those smartphones running Google's Android. Gartner's previous forecast, released in July, pegged Windows at 323 million devices, or 13.2% of the total.
 
Well sure. The computing device that every has and carries with them all the time is the smartphone and obviously Microsoft is well behind in that area. And while it's good to know the percentages I don't think it makes sense to say that one Windows PC that has multiple GPUs and monitors and terabytes of storage is the equivalent of an Android smartphone that the carrier gave away for free to sign one up for service.
 
heatlesssun said:
Well sure. The computing device that every has and carries with them all the time is the smartphone and obviously Microsoft is well behind in that area. And while it's good to know the percentages I don't think it makes sense to say that one Windows PC that has multiple GPUs and monitors and terabytes of storage is the equivalent of an Android smartphone that the carrier gave away for free to sign one up for service.
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People are replacing computers with phones and tablets. They fill similar roles except that phones are seen more as a necessity and have more capabilities. In addition to offering entertainment, internet access, and word processing a phone can communicate anywhere, act as a camera, offer directions to places while on the move and operate away from a power outlet. iOS and Android tablets are usually less expensive and more familiar to people than Windows tablets so people are buying them because of similarities with their phone or because they don't want to learn a new user interface on Windows tablets. The only difference is that there are billions of tablets and phones and only a tiny number of these multi-GPU power wasting space heater PCs left on the planet (there weren't that many to begin with, but the niche is getting smaller and will continue to shrink away).
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
The only difference is that there are billions of tablets and phones and only a tiny number of these multi-GPU power wasting space heater PCs left on the planet (there weren't that many to begin with, but the niche is getting smaller and will continue to shrink away).
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How many people make a living sitting in holding smartphone for 8 hours a day versus how many sit in front a large or multi-monitor PC. When a phone or tablet can replace these capabilities then there will be no need for traditional PCs. So far, that's really not come to pass. If one never needed or depended on the capabilities of PCs then picking up a smartphone or tablet for computing needs is to be expected. In economies of scale there are always far fewer producers than consumers. But without producers consumers would have nothing to consume. The development of software for these devices is done on PCs and Macs. x86 Windows tablets are the only ones that can actually be used to natively produce software including Android apps.
 
heatlesssun said:
How many people make a living sitting in holding smartphone for 8 hours a day versus how many sit in front a large or multi-monitor PC. When a phone or tablet can replace these capabilities then there will be no need for traditional PCs. So far, that's really not come to pass. If one never needed or depended on the capabilities of PCs then picking up a smartphone or tablet for computing needs is to be expected. In economies of scale there are always far fewer producers than consumers. But without producers consumers would have nothing to consume. The development of software for these devices is done on PCs and Macs. x86 Windows tablets are the only ones that can actually be used to natively produce software including Android apps.
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The whole replace a computer with a phone thing is already happening and it'll be along soon enough. Even you know that. The random thing about producers and consumers aside, this is a DEVICE forecast so it doesn't discriminate between computers or phones or tablets or anything else and based on the trends already discussed, Windows PC shipments are on the decline. There's no point in hiding from the reality of the situation that the PC-model of computing is slowly but surely changing. In fact, when it's to your advantage (Surface Pro-related discussions) even you've advocated that point. :p Don't argue with it now that the facts are tilted in a way that doesn't fit your worldview.
 
heatlesssun said:
Well sure. The computing device that every has and carries with them all the time is the smartphone and obviously Microsoft is well behind in that area. And while it's good to know the percentages I don't think it makes sense to say that one Windows PC that has multiple GPUs and monitors and terabytes of storage is the equivalent of an Android smartphone that the carrier gave away for free to sign one up for service.
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I'm looking forward to seeing what Windows 10 mobile brings with it. Specifically, Continuum could be amazing in the way you're talking about (a computing device that one carries with you at all times).

But it's a total chicken and egg situation. Windows Phone just can't seem to get a foothold (for multiple reasons, the biggest of which being lack of Google services), and Microsoft always seems to have an endless list of "coming soon" or unadvertised features that Apple steals and basically claims they invented.

It sucks because Win Phone 8.1 really has been great for me, but I think I agree with the article that MS is going to slip to 3rd place. Unless Microsoft is able to turn the tide with all their upcoming stuff, MS will probably continue to go down the tubes.
 
sucks that windows phone can't catch on more. it really is a good stable platform. My wife bitches about her android phone constantly yet my lumia....zero issues with it.
 
Bigbacon said:
sucks that windows phone can't catch on more. it really is a good stable platform. My wife bitches about her android phone constantly yet my lumia....zero issues with it.
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I have zero MAJOR problems with it. But I almost always have a problem once a day in which I have to reboot the phone (usually connectivity - when disconnecting from my work's wifi it won't connect to my LTE network, or when I get into my car it won't connect to Bluetooth). However, that's literally once a day at most, and rebooting solves the problem every time.

My SO's LG G3 on the other hand, is crashing constantly, locking up, etc.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
iOS and Android tablets are usually less expensive and more familiar to people than Windows tablets so people are buying them because of similarities with their phone or because they don't want to learn a new user interface on Windows tablets.
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iOS tablets are less expensive? Since when?

Maybe when compared to a Surface Pro, but that's more like a full laptop.
There are some inexpensive atom based Windows tablets out there that are as cheap or cheaper than Android tablets. I picked up my 8" windows tablet for only $99, which was cheaper than any of the Android tablets with similar specs, and way cheaper than any iPad.

As for familiar, Windows 8 is still windows and runs all the familiar applications, so it should be familiar to anyone coming from a PC.
 
psimitry said:
I'm looking forward to seeing what Windows 10 mobile brings with it. Specifically, Continuum could be amazing in the way you're talking about (a computing device that one carries with you at all times).

But it's a total chicken and egg situation. Windows Phone just can't seem to get a foothold (for multiple reasons, the biggest of which being lack of Google services), and Microsoft always seems to have an endless list of "coming soon" or unadvertised features that Apple steals and basically claims they invented.

It sucks because Win Phone 8.1 really has been great for me, but I think I agree with the article that MS is going to slip to 3rd place. Unless Microsoft is able to turn the tide with all their upcoming stuff, MS will probably continue to go down the tubes.
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Lack of apps due to lack of market are the big issues. I think Microsoft is putting a lot effort in the app gap problem. But it's probably to little to late for Windows phones to be much more than a distant 3rd. In the tablet space, I think Microsoft is on a track to be a very solid 3rd place player if not even being in a close race with Apple.

Microsoft has missed this generation of mobile clients and I think after the Nokia write down they acknowledged as much. But they have some big hooks into other aspects of mobile with Office and Azure and the cloud. Indeed their cloud strategy to date been pretty much a hit, which was probably why Nadella got the CEO job because he ran that business before taking the captain's chair.

Desktop Windows though still looks to be a very solid, if not growing business, for many years to come. It's still going to be the go to client for productivity and while mobile can still threaten that, it's not going to be as easy as simply slapping keyboards on mobile OS tablets.
 
nutzo said:
iOS tablets are less expensive? Since when?

Maybe when compared to a Surface Pro, but that's more like a full laptop.
There are some inexpensive atom based Windows tablets out there that are as cheap or cheaper than Android tablets. I picked up my 8" windows tablet for only $99, which was cheaper than any of the Android tablets with similar specs, and way cheaper than any iPad.

As for familiar, Windows 8 is still windows and runs all the familiar applications, so it should be familiar to anyone coming from a PC.
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Windows tablets have a REALLY big price range. But from what I can gather from market reports like Gartner and IDC, the expensive ones make a much larger percentage of the total market than Android and even iOS. Which kind of makes sense to me because people buying Windows tablets generally are looking for more capability than what can be had in cheaper tablets.

Not sure how the cheap Windows tablet market is going these days, there's still a good number of them out there and most of the major OEMs have come out with newer models so they seem to at least be holding their own. I personally don't use my smaller tablets that much these days, but I use my Surface Pro 3 and Surface 3 constantly.
 
How is OS X and iOS the same? I don't know why they compare mobile and desktop. They serve different purposes. I love my phone, but I couldn't live without a PC. Maybe that will change, but so far there's just too much I can do on a PC that's not available on a tablet or phone.
 
And yet, the blind microcrap followers insist in perpetuating their monopoly by buying windows phones with no apps, just because is a microcrap device...
 
Lmao. Lies damnes lies and statistics. Lets lump a top mobile OS with the distant second desktop OS to make it seem like Windows is doomed.

OSX is a great OS like Windows and has stood the test of time. iOS is mobile end user crap. It cheapens OSX as an accomplishment in the face of Windows dominance to lump it in with iOS.
 
grtitan said:
And yet, the blind microcrap followers insist in perpetuating their monopoly by buying windows phones with no apps, just because is a microcrap device...
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No different from those that tell us about how wonderful desktop Linux is that suffers the same fate.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
People are replacing computers with phones and tablets. They fill similar roles except that phones are seen more as a necessity and have more capabilities. In addition to offering entertainment, internet access, and word processing a phone can communicate anywhere, act as a camera, offer directions to places while on the move and operate away from a power outlet. iOS and Android tablets are usually less expensive and more familiar to people than Windows tablets so people are buying them because of similarities with their phone or because they don't want to learn a new user interface on Windows tablets. The only difference is that there are billions of tablets and phones and only a tiny number of these multi-GPU power wasting space heater PCs left on the planet (there weren't that many to begin with, but the niche is getting smaller and will continue to shrink away).
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I attribute this to people being stupid. Phones are convenient, but they suck at everything they do. Given the choice I look up directions on my PC/laptop because it is much quicker and easier. I can see a big area and not have to swipe and pinch away every few seconds. Even cutting and pasting a line of text is a massive pain on an iPhone. Obviously people spend a lot of time outside so I see why they use it, but when you have access there is no reason not to use a PC. Unless you don't value your time and like to spend 15 minutes to accomplish a 5 minute task.
 
grtitan said:
And yet, the blind microcrap followers insist in perpetuating their monopoly by buying windows phones with no apps, just because is a microcrap device...
Click to expand...

I find the Googlrati to be the blind followers in this story.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
People are replacing computers with phones and tablets. They fill similar roles except that phones are seen more as a necessity and have more capabilities. In addition to offering entertainment, internet access, and word processing a phone can communicate anywhere, act as a camera, offer directions to places while on the move and operate away from a power outlet. iOS and Android tablets are usually less expensive and more familiar to people than Windows tablets so people are buying them because of similarities with their phone or because they don't want to learn a new user interface on Windows tablets. The only difference is that there are billions of tablets and phones and only a tiny number of these multi-GPU power wasting space heater PCs left on the planet (there weren't that many to begin with, but the niche is getting smaller and will continue to shrink away).
Click to expand...

Hm, nobody I know has gotten rid of their computers when they got a smart phone or table. They do use their mobile devices when they're out and about, but when they need to do real work, they always go back to their computers. Heck, none of our grandkids write their papers for school on their phones, they all do it on a regular PC.

There's no way I could do my job (embedded/firmware developer) on a phone. And why would I want to peruse the web, play triple A games or edit photos on a less than 5 inch screen when I've got multiple large screen monitors on my computer (at work and at home)? I could possibly do my job on a Surface Pro, but I'd be way more productive on a system with (at least) dual large screen monitors and a fast multicore CPU.
 
I didn't read the article, or the study. So I'll throw my input in like everyone else.

I think what it is showing hardware sales with an OS.

Most people on Windows computers don't replace the hardware when a new version comes out. And definetly not with the Microsofts push with free upgrades to Windows 10 right now.

Tablets still seem niche to me. Had a few and tried to do real work on them. Everything is so diluted. Tablets have their place. I think the Surface products are nice, full OS. Niiiice.

Phones, well they are phones meant to connect people, now they are mobile, of course the they'll keep selling. And with short support cycles, and rapid increase hardware developments that'll be the case for a long. People need phones.

I think the graph on first glance is very missleading. And hell I'm not bothering to read the article or study.
 
sadsteve said:
Hm, nobody I know has gotten rid of their computers when they got a smart phone or table. They do use their mobile devices when they're out and about, but when they need to do real work, they always go back to their computers. Heck, none of our grandkids write their papers for school on their phones, they all do it on a regular PC.

There's no way I could do my job (embedded/firmware developer) on a phone. And why would I want to peruse the web, play triple A games or edit photos on a less than 5 inch screen when I've got multiple large screen monitors on my computer (at work and at home)? I could possibly do my job on a Surface Pro, but I'd be way more productive on a system with (at least) dual large screen monitors and a fast multicore CPU.
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My sister type did and my almost BFF did too when her laptop stopped working (she switched to an iPad). There's even a nerd guy at work on the computer support team that has mentioned he'd like to do so.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
My sister type did and my almost BFF did too when her laptop stopped working (she switched to an iPad). There's even a nerd guy at work on the computer support team that has mentioned he'd like to do so.
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I can see those "out and about" types making the switch. The kind that is never at home and does not watch TV, movies or any other type of electronic entertainment. And obviously does not use computers for work, need to do any reading/research online and whatnot. The kind of people who use electronics for 30 minutes or less a day.
 
grtitan said:
And yet, the blind microcrap followers insist in perpetuating their monopoly by buying windows phones with no apps, just because is a microcrap device...
Click to expand...

Or, you know, because I genuinely enjoy the interface. I enjoy the integrated aspect of the apps that I didn't see on a Google device. I enjoy that Cortana integration now functions on my (multiple) desktop devices. And that same integration is on the Band I purchased too.

I don't buy MS products just because they're MS. If I'm looking for a product, I evaluate all the options out there. In the case of my electronics, the fact that MS devices are part of an ecosystem really appealed to me.

And the "lack of apps" has affected me only once (and in a minor capacity). Every other app, I'm able to find a 3rd party equivalent.

Of the other options available to me were Google phones (of which I've gotten a bit tired), and Apple devices, in which to get the same ecosystem integration (which I don't believe they have), I would have to replace every computing device I have. No thank you.

But feel free to continue to make blind assumptions about people's inability to make choices for themselves.
 
psimitry said:
And the "lack of apps" has affected me only once (and in a minor capacity). Every other app, I'm able to find a 3rd party equivalent.
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The lack of apps in the Windows system is huge problem but often overstated. Still, when you see an app being plugged in TV there's never a Windows version for it though often a web site equivalent. If you need or want all the latest and greatest games, social media and content apps, Windows phones won't cut it. In Windows 10 mobile it looks like the important feature set is finally about on par with iOS and Android but without the apps it's a platform that I can't recommend for the same reasons I can't recommend desktop Linux to average people. I can recommend Windows tablets at least to some because of their hybrid nature where mobile OS doesn't fit the need. I think this is one reason why Windows tablets are faring quite a bit better today than Windows phones.
 
Android is more polished experience and closest to Windows capabilities.

Windows has the professional software advantage and better for hardcore productivity and gaming.

Can tolerate OS X but it's like a lower Linux niche.

iOS is crappy, limited and restrictive since it was designed for iPod.

Foresee Android and Windows remaining dominant.
 
In 5 years, when our entire younger generation is so nearsighted they can't drive, I will be laughing away as the one eyes man in a world of blind people.

Phones and tablets are too small for decent web surfing. You'll ruin your eyes, people.
 
dgingeri said:
Phones and tablets are too small for decent web surfing. You'll ruin your eyes, people.
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Yeah, that's one reason why I really don't get into smaller tablets anymore. Something the size of an Surface 3 or Surface Pro 3 with the quality of those screens does make them easier on the eyes literally.
 
dgingeri said:
In 5 years, when our entire younger generation is so nearsighted they can't drive, I will be laughing away as the one eyes man in a world of blind people.

Phones and tablets are too small for decent web surfing. You'll ruin your eyes, people.
Click to expand...

Nearsightedness is genetic, you can't "become nearsighted" from straining your eyes. You can get eyestrain, which is normally not permanent. You also can't be "nearsighted enough you can't drive" provided your wear glasses, your cornea's only stretch so far.
 
mi7chy said:
Windows has the professional software advantage and better for hardcore productivity and gaming.

Can tolerate OS X but it's like a lower Linux niche.
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I got myself OS X laptop few weeks ago and the only place where it's behind is gaming.

Hell it's probably closer to win xp/7 experience than windows 10 is ;)
 
Michaelius said:
I got myself OS X laptop few weeks ago and the only place where it's behind is gaming.

Hell it's probably closer to win xp/7 experience than windows 10 is ;)
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Anything that's close to XP sucks. Sorry, but XP was great in its day, but it's not as good as Vista was by the time 7 came out (not to be confused with Vista when it was released) and it's not even close to 7....or 10.

Biggest problem with 10 is that there are some inconsistencies...especially with Control Panel vs Settings, but I don't find anything in 10 difficult....but then I ddn't find 7-8 difficult either. But what do I know. I didn't htink it was hard to go from XP to Vista/7 (from a GUI perspective), but on these boards everyone complained that 7 didn't have the Windows 95 start menu...a menu I hadn't used in at least 5 or 6 years.
 
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