Big news hit the PC industry this week when press and analysts announced that PC Sales declined year over year in Q1 with 14%. Three tweets as an example for further sources:
1. Gartner with data:
2. CITEworld with data:
3. Forrester with Mark Twain analogy:
The week before I have read a really nice post Arthur Cole at ITBusinessEdge.com who really hit the mark from my perspective:
The PC is no longer dominant – not dead! And this is exactly what has happened through the rise of mobility and everybody is talking about. What I do not like on those discussions is the bad about PCs. They are not bad at all. Terminology about “Fat Clients” which implies all negative aspects of “fat” is wrong and discriminating. I love the terminology “Rich Clients” because that’s what they are compared to devices with less power and depended on network availability.
I am still waiting for a technology driven person who has terminated to use a PC. I have never met one and believe that will take more years to find this person. Today’s hardware and form factors don’t allow me to replace my PC with another device. A tablet does not solve all my requirements; my smartphone neither and I have not tried the nirvana phone yet, but believe it is not a PC replacement as well.
An explanation and speculation from my side why PC sales dropped of might be the overall available budget and purchase of smart devices. PC sales are just postponed due to purchasing other equipment. The economics call it complementary goods, which means that PC sales decreased due to the low price of smart devices. Thin client strategies might be another explanation in combination with virtualization. PCs are the primary device to create content, smart devices instead are the primary device to consume content. Second point could be the weak adoption of Windows 8 in enterprises. Windows 8 seems to harm investments from enterprises as it is seen as a consumer platform not ready for the enterprise. The new metro style and technology is a new paradigm for IT and end-users, and old ways die hard – especially with such a radical change in a mainstream area.
Different view or thoughts? Please let me know. Thanks!
Patrick Sauerwein | @virtual_patrick 