'Wintel' PCs down to 50% share of all personal computing
updated 03:15 pm EST, Mon January 16, 2012
Asymco shows shrinking Intel Windows PCS shift
Asymco's Horace Dediu in an off-site post has highlighted just how much smaller the market share is for the traditional x86-based Windows PC, or Wintel, in the total computing space. Having managed a near-complete monopoly between about 1995 and 2005, Microsoft's platform is now down to about 50 percent when including all Android, iOS, and Mac devices as part of the mix. The market hadn't been as diverse since the early 1980s.
The figure challenges Microsoft's view that the PC would still dominate. While it doesn't preclude traditional Windows PCs from growing in shipments, much faster growth in Apple and Google numbers was making Windows a less relevant platform than it had been just a few years ago. Many of those who do have Windows PCs in some countries now have at least one device from another platform as they want a smartphone or a tablet.
Research from IDC has also suggested that the Windows PC market as a whole may be contracting faster than it appears. While the whole industry was down, including by almost six points in the US, Apple's share was helping brace the overall market. Tom Reestman noted Friday that Windows PCs by themselves dropped 8.5 percent.
Windows 8 has the potential to put Microsoft back in contention for tablets, but with a release not due until late into 2012, it may let Android and iOS claim a larger stake again before Microsoft can recommit.
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Yippee!!!
we are going to see a vast improvement in tech, more innovation, lower prices, quality software, new ways of doing things, better ways, exactly what has been lacking over the last 20 years. A Microcopy free world is bliss, cheaper, better in every way. May it continue for the next 20 years. Bye bye Microcopy, and good riddance.