PC Market Shrinks

The market for PCs (personal computers) has been in a decline recently, and analysts fear that the slump will continue.

"Consumers are less interested in spending on PCs as there are other technology product and services, such as the latest smartphones and media tablets that they are purchasing. This is more of a trend in the mature market as PCs are highly saturated in these markets," Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner, said in a statement.

David Daoud, research director for personal computing at IDC, said the troubles besetting the PC industry are numerous, particularly in the United States.

"The U.S. market suffered a double-digit contraction in the second quarter as market saturation and economic factors combine with anticipation of Windows 8 and other changes later in the year," Daoud said in a statement. "In this context, consumers are delaying purchases, and vendors and retailers are slowing down their PC activities to clear existing inventories. The situation is exacerbated by consumer notebook saturation, a slowing replacement cycle in the commercial sector, and the big macro-economic and political events affecting confidence and spending."

I'm not sure that Windows 8 will be the answer for the U.S. market - or an economic recovery.  In the U.S., the market is saturated, and processing power has been high enough for years to do the kinds of things that the vast bulk of users are interested in.  For most, improving you computing set-up is focused more on portability (accessibility and connectivity), network connection speeds, and storage capacity.  With terrabyte-capacity portable hard drives falling well under $100, and a plethora of connected devices, I think those looking to upgrade are looking in other directions.  I also haven't heard anything about Windows 8 that's likely to drive replacement demand, although knowledge that it's coming soon may well encourage some purchasers to delay their purchases so that they don't have to pay for updating their OS.

The boom has shifted to mobile computing - PCs still serve a major role, particularly in business sectors, and that should keep overall demand steady, or at least slow down the decline.  At least in the absence of some major improvement in technology to drive wholesale replacement of existing devices.

Source  -  Slumping PC Sales Ripple Through Tech Industry,  CIO Insight