Windows 8 not boosting PC sales, NPD says - goffprike1971

Windows device gross sales in the U.S. including desktops, notebooks, and tablets are not getting a boost from the October 26 launch of Windows 8, an online report says. Notebook sales were down 21 percent during the first 4 weeks of Windows 8 common availability compared to the same time period in 2011, according to marketing research firm NPD Group . Desktop sales did a bit better than laptops during that time dropping just 9 percent class-over-year. Overall, Windows 8 devices accounted for 58 percent of all Windows device sales in the U.S. between October 21 and Nov 17, 2012, NPD said.

[Affine: Windows 8: Does its 1-month report circuit card register die off or fail? ]

Nobody's affecting Windows 8 tablets

Perhaps most troubling for Microsoft and twist makers is the relatively lackluster reception thus far to Windows 8 tablets. Sales for one-panel touch slates running Windows 8 were almost not-existent during the launch full point making up fewer than one-hundredth of all Windows 8 device sales, NPD said. That's problematic for Microsoft, since the pavilion feature of Windows 8 is the untried touch-friendly start screen designed to appeal to tablet users.

However, NPD's numbers did not take into account gross revenue of Surface RT, a Windows 8 tablet designed and sold alone by Microsoft. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, before in November said Surface RT gross revenue were overmodest. Variable retail availability of Windows 8 tablets, arsenic some critics have noted, May besides be contributing to wretched gross revenue of Microsoft-steam-powered slates.

Mechanical man and iOS tablets, meanwhile, continue to explode in popularity. A recent IDC report said that worldwide tablet shipments grew past well-nigh 50 percent between July and September compared to the same time frame the year previous. IDC and PCWorld are some closely-held by Internationalistic Data Mathematical group.

NPD cautions not to read also some into its numbers and that Windows 8 can't be titled a dud just yet. "It's calm early to place blame on Windows 8 for the ongoing weakness in the PC market," Sir Leslie Stephen Baker, NPD's V.P. of industriousness analysis, aforementioned in a statement. Bread maker noted that the holiday shopping season, which began last Friday, could further Windows 8 sales as gift buyers tone to put vitreous new laptops and tablets under the tree this year.

No surprise

Disdain the negative findings, NPD's report is not surprising to PC industry insiders. Earlier this year some Dell and Hewlett-Packard predicted Windows 8 would not boost PC sales until 2022.

NPD's findings do, however, add more fodder to the on-going debate about the popularity of Windows 8. Microsoft happening Tuesday announced information technology has sold a combined full of 40 million Windows 8 licenses cosmopolitan, and it didn't take long for pundits and analysts to pounce on Microsoft's Book of Numbers. Windows 8 naysayers say that a huge ball of Windows sales depend on enterprise accounts. Then it's not perspicuous how many a of those 40 million Windows 8 licenses are made up of regular consumers flocking to buy current Windows 8 machines or upgrade existing systems.

NPD's numbers, which are based on location transactions at retailers across the U.S., appear to support the argument that first Windows 8 sales are non happening at your local Best Buy operating theatre RadioShack.

NPD did find a couple of achromatic linings in an otherwise gloomy outlook for Windows 8. Laptops with touchscreens were a popular hit among Windows 8 buyers account for half-dozen per centum of Windows 8 notebook sales. The mean selling price for Windows 8 devices also rose from an ASP of $433 in 2011 to $477 during initial accessibility of Windows 8. This suggests that while less people were buying PCs compared to the same time in 2011, computer shoppers were willing to spend more along fancy fresh features such As stir up-enabled notebooks and faster processors.