Microsoft's Windows 8 could spike sales in an anemic PC market, according to IDC.
Microsoft may
have engineered Windows 8 to work on tablets, but it will still need sales of
the upcoming operating system on traditional PCs if it wants to maintain the
Windows divisions profits and margins.
Based on new
numbers released by research firm IDC, it seems that worldwide PC shipment
growth for 2011 was anemic at 1.8 percent. That slow pace will apparently
continue through the first half of this year. But Windows 8combined with new
form factors such as Ultrabookshas a shot at changing all that.
2012 and 2013
will bring significant changes for Microsoft and the PC community, Jay Chou,
an analyst with IDC, wrote in a March 20 research note. Windows 8 and Ultrabooks
are a definitive step in the right direction to recapturing the relevance of the
PC, but its promise of meshing a tablet experience with a PC body will likely
entail a period of trial and error, thus the market will likely see modest
growth in the near term.
Trial and
error or no, IDC expects PC sales to rise to 5 percent for 2012.
Microsoft will
release Windows 8 in October, according to a new
Bloomberg report that cited unnamed sources with
knowledge of the schedule. That report also suggested Windows 8 would
simultaneously release on devices with Intel and ARM chipsets. While Intels
products continue to handily dominate the traditional PC space, ARM processors
run a significant percentage of mobile devices such as tablets.
Windows XP and
Windows 7, Microsofts two most successful versions of the operating system,
both arrived on store shelves in October of their respective years. In
addition, executives from a major hardware partner told
eWEEK late in 2011 that Microsoft was aiming for an October 2012
release date.
To make
Windows 8 work more effectively on tablets, Microsoft retooled the traditional
desktop-based interface. A Windows 8 machine now offers a start screen composed
of colorful, touch-friendly tiles linked to applications; from there, another
click or finger tap sends users to the regular desktop, complete with a few
tweaks of its own.
Microsoft
wants Windows 8 to offer Apples iPad a significant challenge. But its the
reception on desktops and laptops that might determine whether the operating
systems a true success.
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