PCs cap worst-ever sales year with another 4Q drop

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Personal computer sales sank even further during the holiday shopping season, capping the steepest annual decline in PC shipments since desktop and laptop machines began to appear on people's wish lists decades ago.

The fourth-quarter numbers released Thursday by the research firms Gartner Inc. and International Data Corp. serve as the latest testament to the growing popularity of smartphones and tablet computers. The mobile devices are typically less expensive than PCs and more convenient to use than clunky desktops, making them appealing alternatives to go online for work, entertainment, information and communications.

Gartner cited the mobile shift as the main reason for a 7 percent drop in worldwide PC sales from the previous year during the three months ending in December, a period when the demand for electronics is at its peak. It marks the seventh consecutive quarter of decreasing PC sales.

IDC came up with a slightly different figure. By its calculations, worldwide PC shipments slipped by nearly 6 percent during the fourth quarter.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140109/DAB7IRF00.html

[Archae]

1. I thought everybody liked Windows 8!

[dballance]

7. Bwahahahaha

The iPad and Android tablet market are winning. Not the Surface though.

on edit:
Sure, most office workers and cubicle farms still need a PC. But most consumers can easily get by with a tablet.

[arcane1]

2. I'm still buying a new one this year.

With Linux, of course

[cprise]

21. Consider getting one that can run this:

http://www.qubes-os.org

[arcane1]

29. Thanks!

[awake]

3. "U.S. Mac Sales Grow 28.5% in Holiday Quarter"

Via MacRumors
http://www.macrumors.com/

It seem apple is doing fine

[savalez]

9. Fanboys are required to buy a new computer every year. n/t

[MyNameGoesHere]

13. Well with an upgrade or die policy

I could make great sales too.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

36. Apple Devices Flow Into Corporate World

Apple Devices Flow Into Corporate World
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304244904579278560822979176

By Daisuke Wakabayashi
Updated Jan. 9, 2014 8:02 p.m. ET

As technology shifts from personal computers to smartphones and tablets, Apple Inc. AAPL -0.54% is expanding its reach into a lucrative customer base: companies.

The popularity of the iPhone and iPad among employees is prompting corporate tech managers to rewrite policies and change traditional buying patterns. The iPhone has replaced the BlackBerry as the mobile phone of choice, as the iPad assumes tasks once reserved for PCs.
....

Apple historically made little effort to sell to businesses. Under Chief Executive Tim Cook, however, Apple is quietly moving to appeal to corporate tech managers, by making it easier to link iPhones and iPads to corporate email systems, and to better protect corporate data. In the latest example, the new Mac operating system Mavericks includes enhanced security and data-encryption technology aimed at corporate customers. The efforts are magnified by the growing appeal of Apple products.

When business apps are offered on phones or tablets, they are overwhelmingly on Apple devices. More than 90% of all business apps were deployed on Apple's iOS mobile-operating system in the third quarter, according to Good Technology, which provides mobile-security software and tracks mobile-device use by more than 5,000 corporate customers.
....

Write to Daisuke Wakabayashi at [e-mail]

[loudsue]

4. No. They need to lay the blame at the feet of Windows 8. Nobody is going to buy a PC

with that crap on there, and just open up a world of hurt for themselves.

Microsoft screwed the pooch this time. Nobody wants them.

[iamthebandfanman]

5. +1 nt

[markpkessinger]

12. The decisions made by Microsoft . . . oy!

Windows 7, which I use, is a really solid OS. They could easily have stuck with it for a while longer.

[loudsue]

23. Just pure greed, my friend. They are trying so hard to milk every dime out of the public

that they push all kinds of crap out the door. Welcome to capitalism, global style.

[DeSwiss]

35. +1000

[Angleae]

18. Most people are too ignorant to realize Win8 is a PoS.

Unless you have hardware failure, there is no need anymore to upgrade.

[Kelvin Mace]

25. I banned Windows 8 in our company

Because I do NOT have the time to go and teach everyone of my users how to use an OS that invalidates all previous know-how.

Windows 8 might be great for a tablet, but it SUCKS like a black hole for a PC.

Windows 7 and holding.

[iamthebandfanman]

6. ill always own

a custom PC...

cause im a gamer.. and honestly don't care much for consoles (haven't since .. maybe.. the N64? lol)..

so at least individual PC part manufacturers will be getting my business lol

[Kelvin Mace]

26. And a custom built

PC will lack all of the crapware and spyware all new machines come with?

Gosh I am old enough to remember when the term "spyware" was a humorous term that didn't really mean that the government was spying on you.

[Astraea]

8. I'll always have a desktop, even though I do own a notebook

I can always upgrade and customize the desktop.

[savalez]

10. People are content with what they have.

Also, the industry is changing. There is a new segment called 2 in 1 that will be interesting. They are laptops that convert into tablets. Many models will be introduced this year. If it takes off it should get people upgrading. But again, why upgrade if what you have works?

[MicaelS]

11. I have been building my own for over 10 years.

I bought one OEM PC, a Dell, back in 1999. After that all have been BYO.

[X_Digger]

14. I was flipping DIP switches and installing cards in my IBM PC jr back in the 80's.

I think market analysts have focused on sales as a measure of utility, without thinking about saturation.

The desktop market may be getting saturated, but I don't know anyone who's switched from desktop to tablet / mobile only.

[MicaelS]

16. I would buy a tablet only as a backup.

I always have at least 2 working desktops. And I hate laptops.

[X_Digger]

17. Me and my triple monitors agree. :) n/t

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

15. Most of our office PC's are 8 to 10 years old

They're running Windows 7 and Office 2010 just fine. I think the point of diminishing returns for basic productivity tasks was hit somewhere around the Pentium 3.

[Kelvin Mace]

27. Plus, if you need an upgrade

it is AMAZING what an SSD does for Windows performance. My Win7 machines but in 10-15 seconds.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

37. They installed SSD's when we upgraded for Windows 7

At least the ones that have SATA.

[Kelvin Mace]

38. Makes a world of difference

pair it up with 8-16GB of RAM and most computers actually begin to get useful.

[loudsue]

31. Hell, I'm still using XP on my PC....Ok. So it's really old. But I don't see a need to

change. XP always worked. Still does.

[blackspade]

19. I'll always have a desktop as long as they are produced.

I need the processor power and the customization capabilities.

My current machine is 7 years old and going strong. Still using XP and I'm fine with that.

[Xyzse]

32. Same here.

I am however in the market for a touchscreen PC for kicks and giggles.

[sir pball]

33. If you need the power, why are you using such an ancient machine though?

I guarantee you my two-year-old laptop is more powerful than your desktop in every way; I'm going to guess you're running a Core 2 Duo on DDR2 with PCIe 1.1 and SATA 2.0. Very hot kit in 2007, but I have a Core i7/DDR3/PCIe 2.0/SATA 3.0 warming my thighs. Needing the FLOPs is a perfectly legitimate reason, but you kind of need to stay at most one generation behind to get the power.

You'll still win on expansion for now though, Thunderbolt gear is expensive and rare.

[blackspade]

34. Your pretty close actually.

Mine is running two 2.13Ghz Core 2 Duo processors and two Nvidia 7900 GS graphics cards.
But your correct on the rest.
It is much faster (well to me) than the new computers that the university where I work have.

I've resisted getting a new one mainly because I have several legacy programs that I like to use and because I really like XP over all of it's successors (I can tolerate 7, but Vista and 8 stink).

[allan01]

20. re:PCs cap worst-ever sales year with another 4Q drop

windoze 8 SUCKEd big time . fix the kernel , no. just give it a new gui and hope for the best . metro needs to be flushed out the tube .and vista was a bomb too.

[Kelvin Mace]

28. MS seems to believe they can bully users into

loving Metro.

NO.

NOT EVER.

[jmowreader]

22. Very few people want a PC in the first place

They want something that will play games and do online things like web surfing, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Tablets, smartphones and the latest video game consoles will do all those things.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

24. I still can't play WOW or write my screenplays on a tablet. I still can't print with one either

Or use it with a protector.

I like my Galaxy 2.0Tab 10.1 phone. . .but until I can use it in my classroom, attach game controllers, print, play WOW and write my screenplays, I'll stick to my HP 1 TB Pavilion for the work and the tablet will go with me for the games, especially Plague Inc.

[Hosnon]

30. Chromebooks. nt.