Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Chromebooks Slow Down PC Market Sales

In the second quarter of 2014, there was an appreciable spike in sales of PC due to the jump to newer upgraded computers ever since the support for Window XP has ended in April.

However, PC shipments worldwide totaled 74.4 million, which is a 1.7 percent decline in the sale of PC in the same quarter a year ago, according to the statements released by IDC on Wednesday. Back in May, IDC had predicted a decline of 7.1 percent for the second quarter. However, contrary to the predictions by the research firms, the predicted decline until 2018 was found to be completely false. This decline was based on the development of mobile technology industry that is fast taking the place of PC systems. Moreover, according to the research agency, Windows 7 operating system is supposedly winning in the race between Windows 7 vs Windows 8.

Jay Chou, senior research analyst at IDC said, “With the fact that we're seeing a good second quarter, that obviously means we're going to revise our short-term outlook.” Users seem to have understood that although Mobile devices are useful, they are by no means a replacement to the computer yet. However, more time and a couple of strong shipment numbers are needed to conclusively prove that the PC market is actually rebounding, as the expert in future computing, Chou explained.

A lot of this growth can be explained owing to the enterprise expansion from old PCs running Windows XP, which has lost its support from Microsoft. As a result of this, users are resorting to upgrading to PCs with Windows 7 or Windows 8, either online or using the installation disk.

Chromebook, the light powered notebooks that run Google’s Chrome Operating System which is based on a Linux kernel, receive an unprecedented boost after the end-of-support date for Windows XP. Home users, who have very basic needs that limit to browsing the internet and playing media, opted for this low cost alternative. Moreover, the lightweight design and the good battery life also attracted a lot of customers into buying this system. In the race between Windows 7 vs Windows 8, it seems Chromebooks have eaten a major chunk of the pie.

Leading PC makers Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard and Dell had reasons to rejoice because of the end-of-support since they recorded double-digit growth in worldwide PC shipments during the second quarter of 2014. Among this list, Acer was the only PC maker to tumble down the list of the top five PCs, listing a decline of 2.5 percent to 6.12 million units.

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