No Sales Pop for a New Version of Windows
BELLEVUE, Wash. â" It used to be that a new version of the Windows operating system was enough to get people excited about buying a new computer, giving sales a nice pop.
Not this time. Windows 8, the latest edition of Microsoftâs software, failed to pack shoppers into a Microsoft store in a mall here last week, at a time when parking lots in the area were overflowing. The trickle of shopping bags leaving the store with merchandise was nothing like the steady stream at a bustling Apple store upstairs.
Claude Ballard was among the customers at the Microsoft store who tried out Surface, a new Microsoft-designed Windows tablet. Mr. Ballard, who described himself as a âsemiretiredâ computer systems manager for a real estate firm, said he was intrigued by the eye-catching design of Windows 8 â" but not enough to scrimp to buy a new computer this year.
âItâs economics, really,â he said. âItâs going to be a better year for my mechanic than it is for me.â
Weak PC sales this holiday season suggest that the struggles of Microsoft and other companies that depend heavily on the computer business will not abate soon. Plenty of consumers already own PCs and seem content to make do with what they have, especially in a shaky economy in which less expensive mobile devices are bidding for a share of their wallets.
While there are also many tablets running Microsoftâs new, touch-friendly Windows, they have so far failed to emerge from the shadow of competing products from Apple and Amazon and other devices that are being snapped up by holiday shoppers.
Emmanuel Fromont, president of the Americas division of Acer, the worldâs No. 4 PC maker, said sales of the companyâs Windows 8 PCs had been lower than expected. He said one factor was the systemâs unfamiliar design, which appeared to be making consumers cautious.
âThere was not a huge spark in the market,â Mr. Fromont said. âItâs a slow start, thereâs no question.â
The clearest evidence of Windows 8âs disappointing introduction comes from the research firm NPD, which estimates that sales of Windows machines have actually dropped from a year ago.
According to NPD, stores in the United States sold 13 percent fewer Windows devices from late October, when Windows 8 made its debut, through the first week in December, than in the same period last year.
Those figures do not include sales in Microsoftâs own stores, which were the only place to buy a Surface tablet during that period, but because the stores are scarce, analysts believe it is unlikely they made a big difference.
âI think everybody would have hoped for a better start,â said Stephen Baker, an analyst at NPD. âThe thing is, this market is not the same market that Windows 7 or Vista or even XP launched into.â
Those earlier versions of Windows all came out during periods when the PCâs status as the center of computing seemed far more secure. In the intervening years, smartphones and tablets have become much more serious rivals for a share of consumer spending on technology. Sales of PCs have been declining for much of the year.
While most people are not getting rid of their PCs altogether in favor of mobile devices, analysts believe they are postponing purchases of new ones.
âWhat youâre seeing is not a retirement of PCs, but a push-out in the replacement cycle,â said A. M. Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. âIf people used to buy PCs every four years and are now buying them every five years, that could lower PC sales by 20 percent over time. Thatâs substantial.â
Mr. Sacconaghi predicted that global PC shipments would be down 3 percent in 2012.
The shift in spending to tablets is one reason that Windows 8 is so critical for Microsoftâs future. The company overhauled its operating system with a radically different, tile-based interface that is easier to navigate on touch-screen devices. Microsoft intends the software to be flexible enough that it can still be used on conventional laptops and desktops, including newer models with touch screens.
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