Microsoft boost PC sales
Involuntarily Microsoft is helping PC manufacturers. Cutting off support for Windows XP a few days ago made tens of millions of home and industrial users to think about system upgrades.
Most of the PC's from ten years ago that were running on XP can not support an upgrade to Windows 7 or 8 because of outdated hardware. Shutting down support for XP, helped out Microsoft because eventually new operating systems will record some appreciation. But Microsoft will unintentional boost PC shipments for a while.
PS sales started plummeting a few years ago and they were driven down harder by the ever increasing market of mobile gadgets like tablets. However, the XP effect is already visible as research firm Gartner confirms. “The end of XP support a few days ago played a role in the easing decline of PC shipments. All regions indicated a positive effect since the end of XP support stimulated the PC refresh of XP systems. Among key countries, Japan was greatly affected by the end of XP support, registering a 35 percent year over year increase in PC shipments.”
Specialists say first quarter shipments will reach 73-75 million units, which is still a drop of 1 to 3 percent from 2013 same period. Although decreasing, the PC market is still a very profitable one. Dell registered a revenue exceeding 12 billion dollars in 2013 only by PC sales.
Lenovo remains the top vendor with a market share above 18 percent, followed closely by HP with 16 percent and Dell just shy over 11 percent. The top five is completed by Acer and Asus.
