“IDC today drastically lowered its forecast for PC shipments in 2013, a prediction that if accurate means more bad news for Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system,” Gregg Keizer reports for Computerworld. “‘Lower PC sales are certainly not a positive for Microsoft,’ said Loren Loverde, an analyst at IDC who heads the research firm’s PC tracking data group. ‘This will have a direct impact on Microsoft.'”
“IDC, which earlier this year had assembled a rosier forecast, predicting that shipments would slightly increase in the second half of 2013 to end the year down only 1.3% compared to 2012, revised its estimates today,” Keizer reports. “According to the new forecast, PC shipments will decline 7.8% in 2013, drop another 1.2% in 2014, and along with the 4% decrease already posted for 2012, create an unprecedented three-year contraction. Not until 2015 will the industry show shipment gains, when the market expands by an estimated 1.4%.”
Keizer reports, “Even in 2017, as far out as IDC looks into the crystal ball, the PC shipment total of 333 million will still remain below 2012’s 349 million and 2011’s peak of 363 million.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Any negative for Microsoft is a positive for traditional personal computing.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Thumper” for the heads up.]