“So it’s official – the lifelong battle of legendary Apple CEO Steve Jobs is finally won, now that he has toppled the PC platform from beyond the grave: well, in the UK, at least,” Paul Kunert writes for The Register.
“IDC confirmed the shock figures to the The Channel, with 2.8 million tabs reaching the warehouses of retailers and distributors, up a scorching 188 percent on last year,” Kunert writes. “In the same three-month period, 2.3 million PCs were sent into channels, possibly to moulder in unsold piles, representing a decline of 15 percent. This included a 20 percent fall in portables and a six percent decline in desktops.”
Kunert writes, “‘The reason notebooks are declining at a faster rate than desktops is that they are more exposed to substitution from the tablet,’ Catherine Lowry, EMEA PC analyst told The Channel. She added that when someone buys a tab as a secondary device, ‘it extends the life of the notebook, resulting in a less frequent replacement cycle.’ There was no hiding place for PC vendors – both the consumer and business PC segments declined, down 19 and 11 percent respectively.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
When we were an agrarian nation, all cars were trucks, because that’s what you needed on the farm. But as vehicles started to be used in the urban centers, cars got more popular. Innovations like automatic transmission and power steering and things that you didn’t care about in a truck as much started to become paramount in cars… PCs are going to be like trucks. They’re still going to be around, they’re still going to have a lot of value, but they’re going to be used by one out of X people. – Steve Jobs, June 1, 2010
Related articles:
Apple’s Steve Jobs killed the netbook – is the PC next? – April 16, 2013
Steve Jobs’ revenge – April 12, 2013
Microsoft’s stock takes beating after putrid Windows PC shipment reports – April 11, 2013
Apple Macintosh on the rise as Windows PC market plummets – April 11, 2013
Gartner and IDC trumpet wildly incongruous Mac unti sales estimates – April 11, 2013
Gartner: PC Market posts 11.2 percent decline in Q113; Apple Mac sales up 7.4 percent in U.S. – April 10, 2013
IDC: PC shipments post the steepest decline ever in a single quarter, down 13.9% in Q113 – April 10, 2013
That is some decline.
I still say, people are buying tablets in addition to and not instead of computers. Computers just plain last longer, and there has been no major reason for upgrading for some time. Many people are still using circa 2005 and 2006 computers. Those old machines handle sitting there while people type Word documents just fine.
Yup.
I sure do miss Steve! An irreplaceable soul.
the well predicted post-pc era by Steve
as for operating systems, Jobs personally admitted to Gates face that the Windows PC strategy won by capturing the larger user base.
Actually, that was total misdirection by Steve to put Gates offguard.
The Mac has garnered over 50% of the PC industry’s profit. Dell is going private. HP was almost spun off 2 years ago. Those were the 2 largest PC makers for years. Now, Lenovo is rising to the top with what? They make less than $10 a PC. How is that a sustainable business? It’s not, that’s why HP and Dell are trying to become something other than PC companies.
Steve won, and he knew it before he died. Now others are starting to realize that too.
The decline in the PC industry is attributable in part to the plague called Windows. Last I checked Apple is still selling notebooks, iMacs, Mac minis, and has promised a new and improved Mac Pro this year. The PC isn’t as dead as some think.
He was talking about windows PCs…. Macs arent going away anytime soon..
…isn’t that wonderful.
It is interesting but why is it wonderful?
Here’s a couple for ya:
“The myth that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armor to lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos neatly ignores the fact that it was he who, by peddling second-rate technology, led them into it in the first place, and continues to do so today.” — Douglas Adams.
“The fact that Windows is widely used means nothing more than that it has been promoted and marketed more effectively than its competitors. Most purchasers of personal computers, including the corporate purchasers who made Windows popular, are not experts, and usually make product selections primarily based on initial cost and a considerable degree of herd mentality. These criteria have nothing to do with standards or technical superiority.” — Guy Kawasaki.
I’ll get your coat…
=:~)
That’s wonderful? You obviously have a low threshold for awe and amazement.
Not at all, but I do have a low threshold for people who continually demonstrate an IQ level meagre enough to embarrass a petunia.
If I were you I’d leave prognostication on Apple to your elders and betters. Confine yourself to commentary on matters more suited to your limited intellect, such as the latest reality TV show or the price of fish, lest I chastise you a second time.
=:~)
How does it feel to be impotent?
Ah, the sign of the intellectual pygmy. Having roundly lost the argument, it resorts to ad hominem attacks.
Game over, sonny 🙂
=:~)
A hundred years from now, three tombstones sit side by side. The one on the left is engraved with the name ‘Bill Gates.’ Next in the middle, ‘Steve Jobs.’ Then the rightmost ‘Steve Ballmer.’
On their respective tombstones will be engraved the words, reading from left to right:
‘He started the PC revolution.’
‘He pulled the kill switch on the PC.’
‘He was the true killer of the PC.’
<sarcasm>
Oh, that’s right. I remember the “Welcome, Apple” full-page ad run by IBM when Apple entered the personal computer market a full 4 YEARS after IBM introduced the first end-user-targeted personal computer system.
</sarcasm>
Microsoft’s first MS-DOS machine was the IBM 5150* PC, introduced in 1981. The Apple ][ was first introduced in 1977.
*The model number “5150” was accidentally given to this PC due to a scribbled note from the motherboard designer, who was a California ham radio operator active in public safety work. “5150” refers to the section of the California Welfare & Institutions Code, which states that “an idiot, imbecile or moron is not responsible for their actions.”
WI 5150 has many provisions. One of the most useful is that it gives law enforcement the power to commit a person into a State mental health facility for 72 hours of observation.
It is important to note that this is not an arrest and does not appear on the detainee’s criminal history.
And it was the first VanHagar album. The beginning of the end of VanHalen as we knew it.
“2.3 million PCs were sent into channels, possibly to moulder in unsold piles, representing a decline of 15 percent.”
Many Tabs, those without the iPad name, were sent into channels, possibly to moulder in unsold piles, representing another decline, the decline of the iPad wannabes.
Tabs? That’s a new one on me.
‘PCs are going to be like trucks.’
I hope not. There are more trucks in my area than cars.
Valley Center, Ca.
Funny that trucks deliver iPads to the local Apple store. Go figure.
Yep and iOS software is written on “trucks” …
Like steve said… PCs will still be around.. they’re going to be used by one out of X people
I still use my old PC’s… I have a leg missing on my desk which I use the PC’s to hold the desk up.
That’s only because a business can write off a truck with a GVWR over 6000 pounds as quickly as they want, so big trucks sell like hotcakes.
That’s because you are in an agrarian community with lots of avocados.
We need to win the real PC war as in no more Winduhz.
I’ll believe the PC is dead when I go into a Dr’s office, hospital, lawyer’s office or just about any business and see an Apple product instead of a Windows/Dell or Windows whatever chunk of garbage on the desk.
Buys a tab? What the heck is a tab?
R.I.P PC…
You gave me a hell of a ride with Viruses, Trojans and Formatting. Lest we forget.