Bach Seat

The BusinessInsider says that the PC market imploded last quarter. They cite data from technology prognosticators IDC who reported PC sales fell 14 percent in the first quarter, which is worse than their forecast of a 7.7 percent drop. IDC claims this is the worst quarter for PC’s since they started tracking sales.

IDC blames Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows 8 operating system for alienating consumers. The new tile-based interface is too weird for consumers, says IDC. Instead of buying new laptops or desktops, people are buying tablets and smartphones which serve as good-enough alternatives claims the article.

Despite the wave of doom and gloom in the headlines from Gartner (IT) and IDC, Paul Mah at FierceCIO warns IT, managers and executives, to think before they ditch their existing PCs fleet in favor of tablets and smartphones; or perhaps reallocate their budgets to migrate existing business apps for a tablet-only environment future.

FierceCIO makes the point that the decline in shipments pertains only to the consumer section of the PC market. According to Mikako Kitagawa, at Gartner: “Unlike the consumer PC segment, the professional PC market, which accounts for about half of overall PC shipments, has seen growth, driven by continuing PC refreshes.”

What’s more, this growth is taking place even though some regions already have passed the peak of their PC refresh cycles. And at half of the overall PC shipments, the professional PC market is nothing to be scoffed at. On the other hand, the overall dip–despite the growth in the professional PC market–does speak to just how sharply the drop in consumer PC shipments has been according to the article.

Consumers are clearly moving their content consumption from PCs to connected devices, such as tablets and smartphones. As far as enterprises should be concerned though, businesses are still buying PCs.

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Despite what many people wish, I still don’t see many ways in which tablets can replace the office PC. How do you run a 40 column excel on a 9.5 inch Apple (AAPL) iPad screen? Can you use Access on a consumer-centric tablet like the iPad?

Related articles

• Put Away The Eulogy, The PC Is Alive And Well (techcrunch.com)

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.