PC sales declined 14% first quarter 2013

[YeOldeStonecat]

I said for most users. Certainly a tablet isn't going to replace a server or a workstation doing serious 3D rendering or video transcoding, but for most users a quad core smartphone with a gig of ram is plenty of horsepower right now & they're only going to get more powerful in the future.

You add a bluetooth keyboard & mouse to a tablet or smartphone that connects to a wireless monitor or TV & suddenly the desktop becomes a dinosaur.

I'm not saying this is going to happen, but it sure does look like the direction we're headed.

But what market are you talking about? For "home users"...I'd tend to agree. There are many reasons I've stayed away from the residential/home user market, and avoiding this slumping doomsday stuff about declining PCs is one of the many positive side effects from staying away from it.

For my market, "SMB"...I'm not seeing a decline at all. As I scroll down my list of business clients, and think about the applications they all run on their networks....yeah...no room for tablets taking over here, that's for sure! PC sales and installs and support...carry on!

 

[compnet]

Hey the sky is falling crowd. Here's a challenge.

Google (any general product) sales falling. The first things I tried - house, new car, tv, all came up with results showing sales are falling. I don't know if anyone noticed, but the economy sucks right now..


For PCs, we, along with a lot of people on technibble have had record months recently.. This leads me to believe the biggest cause of pc sales slump is the economy, not tablets, not smartphones, not windows 8. People would rather spend 100 bucks getting their computer back up and running then to run out and go buy a new one. Especially when their computer does everything they need it to and more still.

Of the 14% decline... I'd say easy 7-8% is from the economy, 3-4% is because, well, most people don't need a brand new computer, their computer does everything they need. 2-4% is the smartphone/tablet "revolution" and windows 8 poor sales performance combined.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Google (any general product) sales falling. ... house, new car, tv, all came up with results showing sales are falling. I don't know if anyone noticed, but the economy sucks right now...

Economy has been on the rise for about 2 years.
Housing market has been on a good climb for 2 years...it was done bottoming out over 18 months ago.
We had the best year last year that crushed in the prior 3 years like crazy.

Everyone has to stop beating the doomsday drums, it's over, it's been over. Time to climb, time to spend, time to feed the economy, and time to reap what the economy is holding out for you to reap!

 

[compnet]

Economy has been on the rise for about 2 years.
Housing market has been on a good climb for 2 years...it was done bottoming out over 18 months ago.
We had the best year last year that crushed in the prior 3 years like crazy.

Everyone has to stop beating the doomsday drums, it's over, it's been over. Time to climb, time to spend, time to feed the economy, and time to reap what the economy is holding out for you to reap!

Economy is recovering(sort of).. Unemployment rates are still high. This is all for another thread though.. Lets just say people have less money to go out and buy the latest and greatest than they used to.

 

[16k_zx81]

Of the 14% decline... I'd say easy 7-8% is from the economy, 3-4% is because, ... 2-4% is the smartphone/tablet "revolution" and windows 8 poor sales performance combined.

Yep. I reckon secretly the market analysts that pretend to spend years studying this stuff in order to provide informed, reliable commentary, do the same thing: thirty seconds of um-ing and ah-ing with the outcome prefaced by "I reckon"....

You are in the wrong game there Compnet. You should be working as a market analyst, mate!

 

[compnet]

You are in the wrong game there Compnet. You should be working as a market analyst, mate!

I am pretty good at making up numbers

 

[ell]

I bought an Android tablet awhile back and its my main computing device at home now. In fact I almost never use the desktop and have retired it.

My wife uses her ipad almost exclusively, as does my Son.

Our household computing habits have changed significantly as a result of the 'new' technology, and I can see why so many people are turning away from PCs.

I still 'have to' use PCs on the bench at work, but if there was another option, I would be on it in a heartbeat.

I do like my Samsung tab 2 10.1, but I get really frustrated with the screen tapping sometimes, my laptops are my favs, tablets aren't doing all that hot either (which is ok by me, I'm not servicing them!) http://wraltechwire.com/apple-shares-hit-one-year-low-on-reports-of-slow-sales-by-chip-provider/12350384/

 

[zchehi]

I hope the market is not going to pot, with my job loss I’m going full time and restructuring to remote business only, I am gambling on the fact that software repair is going to be the main business.

 

[16k_zx81]

I hope the market is not going to pot, with my job loss I’m going full time and restructuring to remote business only, I am gambling on the fact that software repair is going to be the main business.

At the business end of things there is no risk ATM, particularly if you have specific software skills relating to business/enterprise sector.

That doesnt mean there will not be changes over time, but I do not think the magnitude is anything close to what is happening with 'casual' end-users.