Windows 8 Sales Are Stale, Says NPD Group

Microsoft Windows 8 sales have not revived the PC and notebook industries as many analysts had hoped, in fact a new study from NPD Group reveals that Windows-powered personal computer sales fell by 21 percent in the last month.

While those numbers do not include the Microsoft Surface RT’s sales it showcases the problem PC makers are having as tablets and smartphones begin to dominate the computer space.

The NPD Group does not include business to business sales in its overall report, sales that may help provide a better outlook for the future of personal PCs.

Q3 2012 witnessed an overall market drop of 12.4 percent with only Lenovo, Asus, and Apple managing to expand their sectors sales. Some analysts believed the drop in sales was caused by customers waiting for Windows 8 to arrive, an expectation that appears to be incorrect. Since launching Windows 8 Microsoft has experienced a 24 percent drop in laptop sales and a nine percent drop in desktop sales.

The one bright spot appears to be laptops that feature a touchscreen, those devices have witnessed a six percent increase since the heavily touchscreen optimized Windows 8 launched.

While Microsoft has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses since its launch the company has not revealed how many of those sales were upgrades and how many were system installed sales.

As smartphones and tablets become more prevalence on the open market Microsoft’s biggest challenge appears to be delivering an OS that today’s consumer actually wants to you. In hiding the start button on Windows 8 Microsoft appears to have taken away its one big advantage over the years – familiarity.