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PC sales collapse by 14% as Microsoft’s Windows 8 flops

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By John Glenday, Reporter

April 11, 2013 | 2 min read

The decline in global PC sales has accelerated with the latest estimates for the first three months of the year indicating a 14 per cent decline, the largest quarterly fall on record.

Research firm IDC said that 76.3m PC’s were shipped over the period, far less than ever before, as consumers increasingly migrate toward tablets and smartphones.

Recession and a lacklustre response to Microsoft’s much hyped Windows 8 interface, which sought to implement touch sensitive controls, were also cited as contributing to the decline.

IDC vice president, Bob O'Donnell, said: "Unfortunately, it seems clear that the Windows 8 launch not only didn't provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market."

O’Donnell added that the higher costs associated with touch sensitive screens had ‘made PCs a less attractive alternative to dedicated tablets and other competitive devices.’

IDC noted that where in the past companies would replace their PCs every three years they are now more likely to take five years.

This has hit manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard hard with the world’s largest PC manufacturer registering a 24 per cent fall in shipments for the first quarter versus a year ago.

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