Global shipments fall 4.9% in 4Q

Shipments of computers amounted to 90.3 million in the fourth quarter of last year, a fall of 4.9 percent compared with the same period in 2011. The numbers are part of a preliminary report released by the research firm Gartner. In the United States, there were 2.1% decline in the supply of PCs. Already in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the performance was 9.6% lower in the fourth quarter of 2012. In the balance of the year, shipments of PCs around the world showed a fall of 3.5% in the world totalling $ 352.7 million units.
The launch of Windows 8 operating system, from Microsoft, in October, it reinvigorated the PC industry. the fact that many manufacturers have chosen not to fabricate devices with touch screen cracked down the demand for machines based on the new software. Fine and lightweight computers known as ultrabooks also failed to Captivate consumers, both by the lack of equipment, and the high price of the models available. "In the end-of-year sales seen retailers clearing inventories of machines with Windows 7, or directing efforts to cheaper notebooks," said Ranjit Atwal, Gartner's Research Director.
Analyst Mikako Kitagawa's assessment, the drop in PC sales is linked to expansion of the tablets. "They changed dramatically the scenario for the PC industry, not so much by" cannibalize "sales, but by lead users of PCs to consume tablets instead of replacing obsolete computers," he said. According to the analyst, some people choose to have a tablet and a good desktop computer, but this profile of the consumer will be the exception and not the rule. Gartner's experts, the rapid fall in prices of tablets is the main reason for such equipment have become the main object of desire of consumers at the expense of PCs.