Wintel takes kicking from Apple, market share at all-time low Wintel's grip on the PC market has dropped to an all-time low due to the encroachment of Apple's seemingly unbeatable iPad. Figures from industry box-counter Canalys show 73 per cent of the 108.7 million PCs - desktops, notebooks, netbooks and pads - sold worldwide in Q2 were running on Microsoft's OS and had Intel inside. In …
Computers don't need replacing every year, in fact program's rarely tax the power of even the most basic computers unless you are a gaming fanatic, even then a 2 years old mid range pc will play the latest games.
The purchase of iPads are not instead of a PC, it's to compliment the PC.
So this story really makes no sense at all.
@LarsG: "The purchase of iPads are not instead of a PC, it's to compliment the PC. So this story really makes no sense at all."
It makes perfect sense - it's the only reason they are selling in such large numbers. The reason it doesn't make sense to most techies is that they realise a PC and a tablet are both computers and we try put them in the same class. But to the general public, a tablet is an appliance. Have you seen the primitive uses most PCs are put to? Browsing the Internet, basic communication (think FaceBook, email, etc), and media to some extent. But the pain of setting up and maintaining a general-purpose computer for your average user is enormous.
The iPad was designed to be an appliance. It's practically always-on, provides instant, finger-tip access to common uses, requires no learning/expertise, makes no technical demands on the user ("do you trust this source? ...are you sure you want to download that? ...you have no Firewall installed ...there are 50,000 security updates ready to install, blah, blah).
For most people, this is a welcome relief from the need to own/operate a general-purpose computer. Make no mistake - for these people, the iPad is a replacement for a PC. Readers of sites like The Register might find it hard to relate to that, but we're a small minority of the marketplace.
The interesting thing is that Windows PCs seem to be stuck on around 85m sales per quarter, not growing at all for the last 8 quarters, whereas Apple's iPad is growing very rapidly, and with 17m iPads, plus 4m Macs, in the last quarter, Apple PC numbers have reached 25% of the Windows PC sales. It wouldn't surprise me if in the final October, November, December quarter this year, Windows PCs are still stuck at around the 85m mark but Apple sell 35m iPads (including the 7" ipads) plus 5m Macs. This would give rise to the delicious statistic of Apple PCs reaching 47% of the number of Windows PCs sold. And there are those who say the iPhone is a personal computer, so if you were to include those also, the figure becomes Apple PC sales are equal to 78% of Windows PC sales - in the interests of fairness I have added the 5m Win Phone 8 sales I expect in the quarter to the Windows total, so it is 70m Apple PCs v 90m Windows PCs. I don't have any Apple devices personally but I do like to see some competition in the PC market, so I am enjoying the show.
Its like saying buying a caravan is causing house sales to fall!! simple fact they compliment each other..
People are deciding not to replace PC's with Tablets - Tablets are simply being seen as an accessory to be used in conjunction with PC's. So its not a fact that Wintels market share is dipping, its just that people have limited budgets and rather than replacing PC's they consider adequate, they are deciding an tablet-accessory would be more beneficial.
Get a grip!
Yes it will replace a PC for many users. How many people do you know who only use their PC for email, Facebook, Youtube, Netflix, Pandora and simple games? This type of consumer who bought PCs before the tablet craze are now buying Ipads because for them it IS a PC replacement. Plus it's shiny. And all their friends have one so they want one too.
It's also likely that these figures reflect those who have a PC from 2007 or earlier are buying tablets instead of upgrading their PC.
Let's face it most PC users are not power users so the limitations of tablets aren't a factor. The fact that Ipads are "trendy and hip" are another reason it outsells all other tablets.
Agreed, as I've stated previously, Pads are a supplementary technology. A decent spec PC or Portable tends to be purchased every 3-5 years on average, whereas the lower cost Tablets seem to be complimenting the existing Wintel systems in "most" households.
Also, I've seen more than one tablet in the "average household" including mine where I have both an iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab, one purchased in December 2011 and the latter in May this year.
There's no ways I'd ever purchase two Wintel [or Mac] units in a year, I just don't have that need or the disposable income!
The corporate market also seems to be catching the Tablet buzz as I see more companies adapting to these hand held alternatives, not that they'd ever replace the corporate desktop or portable, but they are certainly making inroads..
@Mondo. I'd go further and say household PCs are reaching 5-6 years typical, part of the explanation of the shipping levels in developed world. Tablets are in the 2-3 year space now and probably another three years or more before they catch up with notebook typical lifetimes.
Good point about many tablets selling into multi-tablet households, more a literally personal device than traditional PC, as with phones.
My PC is never switched off, it hibernates and comes on with a touch of its button. It does not need "firing up". What are you running, Windows 95?
It is indeed a low priority to upgrade though. As I don't need to play the latest games there is no need to. That is why, in order to sell me something, the marketing droids have to try to persuade me that I need to replace it with a "pad type thing". Good luck with that.
You reveal the fact that you don't want a Pad type thing but include yourself as a statistic in the postulated group of Pad type thing owners. Eh?
Is your PC next to you when you watching TV with your family and/or friends? I think 'coffee table browsing' is modern term.
Statistical BS....
The classification of an iPad as a PC is wrong.
Apple growth is statistically interesting based on its total market share (less than 10% of PC... note PC market) and its growth year on year 50 odd %. But combining desktops with iPads is abusing market segmentation reporting... why don't you add iphones in there to the total count you fool!
Tablets are a different market, and should be measured as such - again crap lazy statistical analysis in search of a headline.. and pretty misleading reporting shame on you Reg...
"the classification of an iPad as a PC is wrong": not if many of the functions of the traditional PC are now performed by other classes of computing device, such as tablets and even smartphones, as other posters have pointed out. In the last 12 months I've bought: a Win7 desktop (which I expect to use for at least 5 years), 2 smartphones and an iPad. I previously owned a WinXP laptop, which I still have. So that's 2 x86 and 3 ARM chips (in CPU terms); I wouldn't be surprised if that is a typical mix. In daily usage terms the smartphones get the most (we carry/use them all the time, including for email and browsing), the iPad next and the desktop and laptop the least.
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