iPad crashes Windows 8 launch party as Asus cuts its PC, tablet forecasts by 10%
More bad new for Microsoft's Windows 8: Asus, one of the few PC makers to experience any growth last year, is now lowering its forecasts for June quarter PC and tablet sales in the face of slack demand for computers with the appearance of Windows Phone.
Source: Asus
Gartner and IDC both rank Taiwan's Asus as the fifth largest PC maker globally (because neither group counts iPad sales). However, Asus' growth streak from last year ground to a halt with the rest of the industry in the first quarter of 2013.
After warning investors in early May that it expected to ship fewer notebooks and tablets in the June quarter (citing plans for 4.8 million notebooks and 2.8 million tablets), the company has now revised its estimates again, cutting its shipment expectations for both categories by 10 percent over the previous quarter. A report by Focus Taiwan says Asus now plans to sell 4.23 million notebooks and 2.7 million tablets.
Asus climbed into the spotlight in 2007 when it released the Eee PC netbook line. In 2010, it spun off Pegatron (an OEM formerly used by Apple to build MacBooks, and rumored to building a new line of low cost iPhones) just as the iPad began selling in quantities that began destroying demand for netbooks.
Asus chairman Jonney Shih, who apparently styles himself as a sort of Steve Jobs, initially launched a hybrid "Padfone" in an oddly dramatic unveiling in 2011. When sales didn't exactly catch on, the company, along with the rest of the PC market, turned to Microsoft's Windows 8 to boost sales of PCs and tablets.
In addition to Windows 8 PCs, which have failed to take the market by storm, Asus also makes the Nexus 7 tablet for Google. To cover all the bases, Asus recently announced its "Transformer Book Trio," which pairs a Windows 8 notebook with an 11.6 inch display that doubles as an Android tablet.
Last year, reviewers noted that "Google apps run better on the iPad Mini than the Nexus 7," despite CNET's report that its own "reader poll" favored the Nexus 7 over the iPad mini by a significant margin.
Consumers voting with their actual dollars have sided with iPads however. In November, Apple sold 3 million new iPad 4 and iPad mini units in its first weekend of sales, and last quarter, Apple sold 19.5 million iPads in its March quarter, up dramatically from 11.8 million in the year ago quarter.
Source: Asus
Gartner and IDC both rank Taiwan's Asus as the fifth largest PC maker globally (because neither group counts iPad sales). However, Asus' growth streak from last year ground to a halt with the rest of the industry in the first quarter of 2013.
After warning investors in early May that it expected to ship fewer notebooks and tablets in the June quarter (citing plans for 4.8 million notebooks and 2.8 million tablets), the company has now revised its estimates again, cutting its shipment expectations for both categories by 10 percent over the previous quarter. A report by Focus Taiwan says Asus now plans to sell 4.23 million notebooks and 2.7 million tablets.
Asus climbed into the spotlight in 2007 when it released the Eee PC netbook line. In 2010, it spun off Pegatron (an OEM formerly used by Apple to build MacBooks, and rumored to building a new line of low cost iPhones) just as the iPad began selling in quantities that began destroying demand for netbooks.
Asus chairman Jonney Shih, who apparently styles himself as a sort of Steve Jobs, initially launched a hybrid "Padfone" in an oddly dramatic unveiling in 2011. When sales didn't exactly catch on, the company, along with the rest of the PC market, turned to Microsoft's Windows 8 to boost sales of PCs and tablets.
In addition to Windows 8 PCs, which have failed to take the market by storm, Asus also makes the Nexus 7 tablet for Google. To cover all the bases, Asus recently announced its "Transformer Book Trio," which pairs a Windows 8 notebook with an 11.6 inch display that doubles as an Android tablet.
Last year, reviewers noted that "Google apps run better on the iPad Mini than the Nexus 7," despite CNET's report that its own "reader poll" favored the Nexus 7 over the iPad mini by a significant margin.
Consumers voting with their actual dollars have sided with iPads however. In November, Apple sold 3 million new iPad 4 and iPad mini units in its first weekend of sales, and last quarter, Apple sold 19.5 million iPads in its March quarter, up dramatically from 11.8 million in the year ago quarter.
Comments
Great news for all Apple fans and stockholders today!
Never again will anybody ever again have to read an article on here or at any other place based on Doug Kass's tweets, because he has quit Twitter as of today.
http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2013/06/17/doug-kass-splits-with-twitter/
" . . . Asus, one of the few PC makers to experience any growth last year, is now lowering its forecasts for June quarter . . ."
First Apple doesn't meet forecasters' prognostications, then Facsimile Sam and now, Jeepers Creepers Asus ?, then ??, then ???
My, there seems to be a trend. Whatever is going to happen to stock values in Tech? Will Google feel the wrath of the great fortune tellers with the gentle flush of Android sales? This soap opera is one tight story.
While the tech-oriented folks can (if they're MS-oriented as well) make excuses for Windows 8, and even hold their breath while using it?
Joe Sixpack ain't buying it. After watching my missus' reaction to Best Buy's sales-critters when they told her that they won't sell her a new laptop with Windows 7 on it, I knew then and there that Windows 8 was more-or-less a Vista-scale failure, and likely worse.
(...now why Best Buy won't do an upcharge install thingy with Geek Squad and park Windows 7 on a new laptop? Dunno, but the missus was ready to drop $1k on a new laptop at that store, and said as much. They lost that money, and the Mac Store down the street got ~$700 of it instead as she realized an iPad keyboard does everything she ever wants to do with a computer. Me? I was told by her to keep out of it, so I just watched with smug satisfaction as the last Windows user in my household stopped using Windows, and my tech repair time dropped to nearly zero.)
Just as a rough guess? Little wonder the consumer desk/laptop market hit the floor. On the enterprise side, they're (as a whole) just about to finish their XP-> Win7 upgrades, so there's not much action left for growth there.
I'm just sitting back waiting for next year, just to see what Microsoft's excuses will be as more OEMs start pointing the finger of blame at Redmond.
1) Wow, these Taiwanese and Korean companies know how to trot out the babes for these intros. Yikes.
2) There's really no competition for the iPad, and we all know this to be true. Yes, people buy other tablets. But they weren't going to buy an iPad in any case, mostly.
3) The PC market is just a wreck right now, and from what little I can tell it's only going to get worse.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colper
I think the decrease in PC sales has something to do with the lifespan of new computers. When I would buy a computer every 3 years I can now go 5-7 years without needing to upgrade. But this is just my own personal theory of course.
There are three schools of thought when it comes to buying computers.
1. Buy the most expensive top of the line system with AppleCare and then sell it the next year for the most resale value (since it would still have AppleCare support) and then spend the difference on the next release top of the line and only have to pay the difference and you'll always have the latest and greatest.
2. Buy what you can afford and keep it until the thing completely dies.
3. Buy what you want with the 3 year AppleCare and then sell it at the end of the 3 years for whatever the market will bear.
The problem is that within the last few years, people are spending their "computing" money on smartphones and tablets instead since the average person might get more use out of those or because of the novelty factor and they do regular browsing, email, texting, etc. For average users, as long as the computer runs the latest OS, it should be just fine. But it doesn't have to. But for the professionals, they usually want to have the power of new systems.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colper
I think the decrease in PC sales has something to do with the lifespan of new computers. When I would buy a computer every 3 years I can now go 5-7 years without needing to upgrade. But this is just my own personal theory of course.
I think you are correct. More specifically from my view is, in the early days, even through the 1990's and early 2000's, computer functionality was still on the upswing, faster speed, more memory, larger hard drives, better monitors. Those who need more functionality and responsiveness in a desktop are fewer and fewer, as the older models are quite adequate for even the newest software. Then add to the mix that many enterprise applications for the PC are web-based, needing only javascript enabled browsers or the Java JVM, both of which run well in older machines, and one is left with little incentive to buy newer PCs.
Apple changed the PC industry by recognizing that most of the time, people used the computer just for the functions that the iPad and the iPhone offered: mail, web browsing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by drblank
is this a comedy club act?
If so, it's amateur night, and the crowd is voting with their feet...
Quote:
Originally Posted by AaronJ
3) The PC market is just a wreck right now, and from what little I can tell it's only going to get worse.
Chairs will be throw, the monkey will dance, and Uncle Fester will...uhh...fester.
Quote:
Originally Posted by drblank
[...]
2. Buy what you can afford and keep it until the thing completely dies.
[...]
That, right there, is my school of thought on a personal level. I just (as in a couple weeks ago) donated my old dual G5 PowerMac that I bought in 2004... it still ran flawlessly. Saw no need to dump it, as it was my only Mac for a very long time, and it still ran very well performance-wise (yes, in spite of the specs).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Penguinisto
I can name this tune in one note...
While the tech-oriented folks can (if they're MS-oriented as well) make excuses for Windows 8, and even hold their breath nose while using it?
< snip >
I'm just sitting back waiting for next year, just to see what Microsoft's excuses will be as more OEMs start pointing the finger of blame at Redmond Uncle Fester.
I thought a couple teensy modifications would make it more fun.
Quote:
Originally Posted by drblank
There are three schools of thought when it comes to buying computers.
2. Buy what you can afford and keep it until the thing completely dies.
Every Mac I've owned, starting with the Mac 128K, was still working completely when I hauled it into the basement and set up my newest Mac. That's a total of seven desktop Macs in 29 years and counting. I've noticed that the gap between replacements has gotten longer as time has gone on. While not one has died, eventually the OS releases and CPU upgrades make it necessary to upgrade so current application software could be bought.
My old late-2006 MBP is a case in point. It can't support the latest OS versions or current applications, but it works so nicely and I've always enjoyed the matte screen... alas! On the plus side, the MBAs are now speed demons compared to what they once were, they are a whole lot less expensive, and if I checked, they may be even as fast as my old MBP by now.
Never mind that its core business and model is under severe distress. I'd love nothing more than to see Apple's PC unit share profitably reach 20%. And, have them come out with a kick ass rev of iWork
Quote:
Originally Posted by waldobushman
I think you are correct. More specifically from my view is, in the early days, even through the 1990's and early 2000's, computer functionality was still on the upswing, faster speed, more memory, larger hard drives, better monitors. Those who need more functionality and responsiveness in a desktop are fewer and fewer, as the older models are quite adequate for even the newest software. Then add to the mix that many enterprise applications for the PC are web-based, needing only javascript enabled browsers or the Java JVM, both of which run well in older machines, and one is left with little incentive to buy newer PCs.
Apple changed the PC industry by recognizing that most of the time, people used the computer just for the functions that the iPad and the iPhone offered: mail, web browsing.
That's clearly what is happening, but its also interesting that Apple wasn't at all the first nor the last to try to pull off such a feat. Before the iMac, Sun was trying to launch the "NC" as a network client. WebTV and similar products from Sony and others were trying to bring the web to consumers without Windows.
The Palm Pilot and similar PDA systems tried to scale up to take out the Windows PC, and Palm even ended up getting used by BeOS to make a second try at delivering a WebTV appliance.
Samsung and other Windows licensees tried valiantly to make tablet solutions, and netbooks tried (initially) to deliver the core functions of a PC with linux. There were lots of other attempts to make Linux-based appliances and low end PCs. And after the iPad, Google's own attempt to both launch Android tablets and its ChromeOS to power a variety of non-Windows PCs and PC replacements were all thrown into the market.
So its not just that Apple "got it," but the company also executed in a way that no other PC OEM, consumer electronics or internet search provider has managed to pull off. Android's me too tablets aren't even able to replicate the iPad's success, despite aping Apple's hardware right down to the round corners.
In the sign it says "Asus In Search of Incredible"
Apple could have a sign that says making incredible products since 1976. No need to search any further.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colper
I think the decrease in PC sales has something to do with the lifespan of new computers. When I would buy a computer every 3 years I can now go 5-7 years without needing to upgrade. But this is just my own personal theory of course.
Quote:
Originally Posted by drblank
There are three schools of thought when it comes to buying computers.
1. Buy the most expensive top of the line system with AppleCare and then sell it the next year for the most resale value (since it would still have AppleCare support) and then spend the difference on the next release top of the line and only have to pay the difference and you'll always have the latest and greatest.
2. Buy what you can afford and keep it until the thing completely dies.
3. Buy what you want with the 3 year AppleCare and then sell it at the end of the 3 years for whatever the market will bear.
The problem is that within the last few years, people are spending their "computing" money on smartphones and tablets instead since the average person might get more use out of those or because of the novelty factor and they do regular browsing, email, texting, etc. For average users, as long as the computer runs the latest OS, it should be just fine. But it doesn't have to. But for the professionals, they usually want to have the power of new systems.
My own theory is a crossbreed between you two.
Actually, DrBlank have done a good sums up, but he misses one major factor that waldobushman have scratch a little bit. You need a killer app, something that will drive people to buy a computer or get a new one, like the internet boom at the end of the 90's where most household bought their first PC. Right now the mobile device caught up on the PC and the PC is searching for his next killer apps.
PADFONE!!!! Took most of the crowd a couple of seconds to realize they are supposed to clap. This guy cracked me up.