Global PC Shipments Fell 10% Last Year
Baku, January 10 (AZERTAC). The personal-computer industry is happy to turn the page on a historically awful 2013.
World-wide PC shipments fell 10% last year, research firms Gartner Inc. and IDC said Thursday, the worst-ever sales slump for the industry. Both companies have been tracking personal computer sales since the 1980s.
Computer makers have been hurt as consumers and businesses spend more time on smartphones and tablets, and are slower to replace aging PCs. Industry executives and research firms in recent months have reported that PC declines are easing.
The trend is also bad news for Microsoft Corp. MSFT +0.93% and Intel Corp. INTC -0.47% , whose software and microprocessors power the vast majority of PCs. The companies have much smaller footholds in phones and tablets.
Gartner estimates Microsoft's Windows operating system will run just 15% of Internet-connected devices shipped this year, as smartphones dwarf PCs. To accelerate its mobile strategy, Microsoft recently struck a $7.4 billion purchase of Nokia Corp.'s NOK1V.HE -0.17% cellphone business.
Intel Chairman Andy Bryant in November said he was "personally embarrassed" by the company's failures to recognize the rise of smartphones and tablets. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich has made it a priority to boost Intel's presence in phones.
PC makers hope to spur demand with new types of computers, including laptops with touchscreens, "two-in-one" devices that can work as either a tablet or a laptop, and computers that run two operating systems.
A spokesman for Microsoft said, "Windows is about more than just laptops and we're pleased with the range of great Windows devices in demand."
While the sales figures were stark, there are signs of a bottom, especially as businesses grow more willing to boost technology spending. For 2014, Gartner estimates sales of 318 million PCs and two-in-one devices, essentially unchanged from 2013 sales.
In a release, Gartner said demand in mature computing markets such as the U.S. has "bottomed out." But the firm said many consumers in emerging markets are skipping PCs and opting for a tablet or smartphone as their primary computing device.
PCs seem to be stabilizing," Steve Luczo, chief executive of disk-drive maker Seagate Technology STX -2.72% PLC, said in an interview this week at the Consumer Electronics Show.
He suggested one factor may be that consumers may be getting more comfortable with Microsoft's latest version of Windows, which offers a new interface scheme tailored for touch commands. Mr. Luczo also is a Microsoft director.
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