Gartner Sees New Slump in PC Sales

iNVEZZ.com, Tuesday, June 25: Shipments of tablets will keep growing this year, while sales of traditional PCs will continue to decline, a report by respected researcher Gartner suggests.

Traditional PC shipments will drop 10.6 percent to just 305 million units this year, while shipments of tablets are expected to expand by 67.9 percent, according to Gartner. The combined sales of PC, tablets and smartphones will grow 5.9 percent.
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Driven by rising sales of tablets (202 million units) and mobile phones (up 4.3 percent to more than 1.8 billion units), global device sales will reach a projected volume of 2.35 billion units this year. The rise in sales of mobile devices and the slump in PC sales are due both to changing consumer preferences and a shift in manufacturers’ own focus, Gartner explains in the report.

“Consumers want anytime-anywhere computing that allows them to consume and create content with ease, but also share and access that content from a different portfolio of products. Mobility is paramount in both mature and emerging markets,” said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner, as quoted by The Telegraph.
The researcher highlights the rapidly growing share of basic tablets that reflects a consumer shift from premium tablets. Gartner points to Apple Inc’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad Mini, whose sales “already represented 60 percent of overall iOS sales in the first quarter of 2013”. Gartner warns, though, that the smartphone and tablet market itself is facing long term challenges “as these devices gain longer life cycles”.

!m[The Microsoft share price (pre-market) was $33.72 as of 12.27 GMT, 25.06.2013 ](/uploads/story/3377/thumbs/pic_1_inline.jpg)
**Windows 8.1**
Many analysts have blamed the decline in the PC market on Microsoft Corp’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) new operating system Windows 8, which failed to provide the sales boost many manufacturers had hoped for. The Windows 8 design aimed to make the new OS more ‘touch-friendly’ than its predecessors, but the removal of certain features caused an outcry amongst traditional PC users. Microsoft will be releasing a major update this week, called Windows 8.1, to address some of the main issues that customers have with the system and restore some of the features dropped in the initial design such as the Start button.

Gartner says that new Intel processors will lift Windows 8 sales later in the year, as they will enable manufacturers to offer significantly improved designs and a longer battery life.
**The Microsoft share price (pre-market) was $33.72 as of 12.27 GMT, 25.06.2013**
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