I won’t bore you with numbers here. If you want those, then I suggest you read the recent story on CNET which outlines the findings of a few industry research firms. How bad? One of the research firms, IDC Corp. hasn’t seen PC shipments in a quarter this low in their history of tracking such information. We’re going back to 1994 folks! HP has seen a 24% drop globally and Acer has seen a 31% drop.
The fact is none of the research firms can pin point a cause. There may be multiple issues at work here and with those types of declines, it certainly can’t be one single issue. I don’t think pinning this failure on Windows 8 is entirely fair. I think part of the issue is that computers are getting fast enough for most people. The needs of the consumers are being met with the PCs that people own already. Windows 8 hasn’t been enough to get people to spend money on new laptops or desktops. Sure the iPad and tablets has been part of the slide but are those devices really PC replacements? I suspect not to a great degree.
I think the price point is a valid crutch from getting people to buy new PCs. Apple and their MacBook laptops have certainly been flourishing. I seem them everywhere yet they are not priced cheaply. Apple gets away with that but Windows 8 computers have proven to not be so lucky. Sure the initial goal with Microsoft and partners was to “stay the course” on their pricing model and expectation, but it appears flawed based on these sagging sales.