Windows 8
The only PC maker escaping the crunch
April 11, 2013: 2:44 PM ETLenovo is the single PC manufacturer that is doing well. And even that company's worldwide sales are flat.
FORTUNE -- Let's say the definition of "PC" is the same one we applied five years ago, before tablets. By that definition, the market seems to be collapsing.
Shipments of PCs in the first quarter fell by 13.9% from the same quarter in 2012. The forecast decline had been 7.7%, according to International Data Corp.'s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. That makes the worst quarter ever tracked by IDC, which started issuing the reports in 1994.
Mini Notebooks saw the biggest decline on the low end, but the whole market was affected by what IDC calls "weak reception for Windows 8," Microsoft's (MSFT) answer to the rise of the tablet. The operating system that incorporates elements of tablet OS's "not only failed to provide a positive boost to the PC market but appears to have slowed the market," said IDC's Bob O'Donnell, in a statement. He said Windows 8 is just too radical a departure from what consumers have come to expect from Windows, and too expensive. The OS has "made PCs a less attractive alternative to dedicated tablets and other competitive devices."
MORE: The Android that could crush the iPhone
The numbers tell the tale. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) still leads the market, but its worldwide shipments fell by a breathtaking 23% from the first quarter of 2012. U.S. shipments fell by about the same rate. Dell (DELL) saw declines of 10% globally and 14% in the United States. About the only "good" news came from Lenovo (LNVGY), where worldwide shipments remained flat, though growth in the U.S. was in the double digits.
The difference for Lenovo, says Ars Technica's Andrew Cunningham, is that consumers believe it to be a solid and reliable supplier of quality PCs, while HP and Dell are both struggling. Dell is in the midst of a restructuring that will take the company private and make it more of a services firm than a hardware company -- similar to what IBM (IBM) did, culminating in the 2005 sale of its PC business to Lenovo. "Consumers and businesses are going to notice and respond when your company acts like it might pull out of the PC market," Cunningham concludes. And Lenovo isn't acting that way.
Still, with the overall market falling at such a rate, it seems clear that PCs are becoming mainly office-only devices now that people can meet most of their personal-computing needs -- like interacting with people, reading news stories, and watching videos -- on tablets and phones.
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Today in Tech: Fugitive John McAfee talks life on the run
Also: why Windows 8 sales are so darned slow; standing desks in the workplace.
McAfee comes out of hiding to talk about life on the run [CNN]
McAfee is so fearful, he says, that he carries up to a dozen disposable cell phones at one time. He estimates he has gone through 200 since he fled more than three weeks ago.
In fact, he only agreed to an interview with CNN after a number MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Dec 3, 2012 5:29 AM ET -
Steve Ballmer at the crossroads
The Microsoft of the late 1990s wouldn't recognize the Microsoft of 2012 -- for the better. But for every Kinect, there is a Zune.
FORTUNE -- Legends are tough acts to follow, especially when they leave a mess behind. Just ask Steve Ballmer. Ever since joining Microsoft in 1980, Ballmer has toiled in the shadow of Bill Gates. Gates is the one remembered as the legend who turned Microsoft into a formidable MORE
Kevin Kelleher - Nov 6, 2012 8:04 AM ET -
Today in Tech: How Facebook is selling access to your data
Also: Zuckerberg visits Russia, Paul Allen weighs in on Windows 8, and Sean Parker talks Airtime.
Facebook sells more access to its members [THE WALL STREET JOURNAL]
To amp up the effectiveness of its ads, Facebook in recent months has begun allowing marketers to target ads at users based on the email address and phone number they list on their profiles, or based on their surfing habits on other sites.
It has also MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Oct 2, 2012 1:45 PM ET -
Today in Tech: How Nokia screwed up its latest launch
How Katy Perry inspired LinkedIn's redesign; Facebook's real mobile problem.
The royal Nokia screw-up that shouldn't have been [PANDODAILY]
That gets to the larger problem: The entire phone isn't ready. On stage, Nokia had nothing specific to say about when the Lumia would go on sale. A day later, perhaps after noticing that providing a launch date for its make-or-break phone could be somewhat important to the future of its entire business, the MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Sep 10, 2012 6:00 AM ET -
Can the Lumia smartphone save Nokia?
The backstory of the struggling cellphone maker's newest devices - and the unlikely executive leading the charge.
FORTUNE -- Since Stephen Elop became CEO of Nokia in 2010 he has made a series of bold moves, from releasing a rally-the-troops memo comparing the flailing mobile-phone maker to a man on a burning platform to hitching the company's future to Microsoft's Windows operating system. His other daring deed? Assigning the crucial task MORE
Michal Lev-Ram, writer - Sep 5, 2012 10:35 AM ET -
Today in Tech: How Marissa Mayer wants to remake Yahoo
* Pulse, the mobile news reader co-founded by grad students Aksay Kothari and Ankit Gupta, is coming to the desktop. Earlier this morning, the startup launched an HTML5-based version of their reader geared for larger screens. "People who have been using Pulse on their mobile devices have been like, why I can't use it on my computer?" Kothari told Fortune. Pulse now reports over 15 million users, with 250 million-plus stories read through MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Aug 9, 2012 1:49 PM ET -
Today in Tech: Foxconn CEO says iPhone 5 will put Samsung to shame
How Kickstarter gave these fledgeling fashion designers capital; a deep dive into Windows Phone 8.
Foxconn CEO: iPhone 5 'will put Samsung Galaxy S III to shame' [WIRED]
At a shareholders' meeting Monday, Gou reportedly said that the new model "will put Samsung's Galaxy S III to shame." Gou also reportedly called Samsung "a company with a track record of snitching on its competitors" — a reference to a European price-fixing investigation of the flat MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Jun 21, 2012 10:00 AM ETPosted in: Apple, iPhone, Kickstarter, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, Window Phone, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 -
Video: Wednesday's unveiling of Windows Phone 8
Microsoft's best chance to take on Apple's iPhone and Google's Android
FORTUNE -- The full keynote in which Microsoft (MSFT) gave its developers "the details they need to know" lasts nearly two hours. But the executive briefing is Joe Belfiore's 60 minute presentation that starts at the 6 minute mark.
Most press reports highlight the key hardware features -- support for multi-core processors, MicroSD chips, near field communications, higher resolution screens, etc.
But MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jun 21, 2012 8:23 AM ET -
Today in Tech: How your Facebook 'Likes' become ads
Obama order sped up wave of cyberattacks against Iran [THE NEW YORK TIMES]
From his first months in office, President Obamasecretly ordered increasingly sophisticated attacks on the computer systems that run Iran's main nuclear enrichment facilities, significantly expanding America's first sustained use of cyberweapons, according to participants in the program.
Google unveils new search mechanism in China [THE WALL STREET JOURNAL]
The Internet search giant unveiled on its Chinese search site this week a new MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Jun 1, 2012 2:04 PM ET
