Consulting firm IDC quarterly report on PC shipment figures this quarter shows a stunning 14% drop of global computer sales. On those numbers, the PC era is definately over.
Across the board the figures are horrible with double digit declines across the board. Market leader HP reported PC sales had fallen by nearly a quarter yet they retained their market lead as all of their competitors reported similar falls.
What’s also notable is the PC industry’s ultrabook attempt to wean consumers off cheap nebooks has backfired terrible, as the analysts note;
Fading Mini Notebook shipments have taken a big chunk out of the low-end market while tablets and smartphones continue to divert consumer spending.
Instead of buying higher priced ultabooks, consumers have abandoned portable PCs altogether and gone to smartphones or tablet computers.
The PC manufacturers must be rueing how they let the tablet computer market slip through their fingers during the 2000s.
Failing to ship decent tablet computers is symptomatic of a bigger problem for the PC manufacturers – their inability to innovate.
The PC industry is struggling to identify innovations that differentiate PCs from other products and inspire consumers to buy, and instead is meeting significant resistance to changes perceived as cumbersome or costly.
As IDC point out, even if they do introduce new products, consumers are wary that any “innovation” is going to be cumbersome. Basically the PC manufacturers have lost their customers’ trust.
How this affects Dell’s proposed buy out remains to be seen; it’s hard to see how investors would not be concerns at a 10% fall in sales, although Dell was one of the better performers.
For Microsoft, this news should further accelerate their moving products and customers to their cloud and enterprise products. For their Windows division it looks like there are tough times ahead.
The decline of the PC market is itself a study in product and innovation cycles. It could well be that the personal computer is going the way of the fax machine.
For some businesses that will be tragedy, but the market – and the opportunities – move on.
Amazing that HP sales can fall 25% – and it can still maintain leadership position. That’s incredible.
I can’t see PCs disappearing just yet. If you’re doing creative intensive duties, especially with images, then you need a nice big screen.
The PC may be disappearing into the screen, a la iMacs. But you still need a big screen experience that is much closer than the average TV.
As bad as this news is for PCs, it’s worth remembering that we still have fax machines.
I agree Sholto, I think we’re seeing PCs evolve into specialist devices rather than the mass consumer items they once were. Which is bad news for companies like Dell whose business is flogging millions of the things.
Agree that the days of the mass utilisation of desktop PCs is over. As Sholto mentioned, a grunty desktop will still be required for the minority of people who CREATE content, but for the vast majority (95%?) who are merely consumers of content, the tablet, phone and net-centric laptops are the tool of choice.
I compare it to the situation that Apple has always been in compared with the PC. Mac users were more often the ‘creators’ of content and needed big useful efficient machines, while consumers (or even modifiers) only needed basic kit and could get away with what a PC provided.
For mine though – owning and using a wide variety of devices, my ultrabook is my best friend. Phone too small, tablet too limiting (in capability), PC too tethered. There is a place for all, but my ultrabook is my best fit solution across a wide range of uses.
Hi Robert,
There’s no doubt the ultrabooks are good pieces of kit, in fact I’m thinking of getting one myself as the little netbook I’ve been using isn’t up the tasks I now do. A tablet couldn’t do the job.
What’s clear is though is the days when the personal computer was THE dominant computing device is over, as are the business models of the companies who catered to that market.
Another interesting factor with that of course is that the huge economies of scale companies like Dell, HP and Asus had are going to end as production numbers fall. It might be better to by that ultrabook soon.
Cheers,
Paul
Paul,
Here is another perspective explaining the decline in desktop sales.
http://www.zdnet.com/the-real-reason-for-the-pc-sales-plunge-the-era-of-good-enough-computing-7000013878/
R