[opendtv] News: PC makers plan rebellion against Windows at 2014 CES, analysts say

From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2013 10:45:17 -0500

From Wikipedia on the source of a famous quote:

Mark Twain popularized the saying in "Chapters from My Autobiography",
published in the North American Review in 1906. "Figures often beguile me," he
wrote, "particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case
the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force:
'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.

I used to think that the politicians were the best at using statistics to lie.
But it appears that tech industry financial analysts may be giving the
politicians a run for their money, as they use statistics to create altered
realities to mislead the public about the major trend in technology. In
reality, just like the political pundits, analysts are just hired guns, who
help the Corporate PR minions shape public opinion. They are particularly
active at this time of year, as the CE industry heads to Las Vega for CES. More
in a moment after a bit of analysis.

The traditional PC market has been in a tailspin for several years, declining
more than 10% in total volume in 2013, after a 3.5% decline in 2012. Netbooks,
once thought to be the next big thing in PCs, tanked based on competition from
the “the next big thing,” the tablet.

Now some analysts are trumpeting the “explosive growth” of Chromebooks, which
are taking market share from traditional PC laptops, and those expensive Apple
laptops. Never mind that Chromebooks are even less capable than netbooks, to
some analysts they are not competing with tablets, but with PCs…

It is projected that about 1.75 million Chromebooks will be sold in 2013 (at
prices from $199 to $249; they were the top sellers in the “laptop category” on
Amazon, which comes as no surprise given that a minimally capable PC laptop
cost more than $500, and any well configured laptop costs more than $1,000.
Tablet sales for 2013 are projected to be 227 million units by the same
Analysts (IDC and NPD Group).

These statistics led Gary Krakow, an analyst at The Street, to write a story
with the headline: "Chromebooks, Android Tablets 2013 Sales Leaders."

Android tablets do account for nearly 2/3s of the tablet market, but this
includes a huge percentage of “white box” tablets sold in China and Asia that
do not offer most of the capabilities of what we think of as a tablet. And
despite the 10% + decline, nearly 300 million PCs were sold in 2013.

What is the point of all of this? Apparently, many PC manufacturers are trying
to figure out how to stem the losses and compete as tablets take over most of
the consumer space and an increasingly larger share of enterprise sales. The
solution?

Android.

What better way to attract the masses than to combine the PC for the masses
(powered by Microsoft), with the mobile OS for the masses (powered by Google…

Do they seriously think this is going to work?

Regards
Craig

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/12/27/pc-makers-plan-rebellion-against-windows-at-ces-analysts-say/?intcmp=trending

PC makers plan rebellion against Windows at 2014 CES, analysts say
Published December 27, 2013FoxNews.com

Fearing rapidly plummeting sales of traditional laptops and desktop computers
-- which collapsed by as much as 10 percent in 2013 -- manufacturers are
planning a revolution against Microsoft and the standard Windows operating
system, analysts say.

At the mammoth Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in early January,
multiple computer makers will unveil systems that simultaneously run two
different operating systems, both Windows and the Android OS that powers many
of the world’s tablets and smartphones, two different analysts said recently.
The new devices will be called “PC Plus” machines, explained Tim Bajarin of
Creative Strategies.

"A PC Plus machine will run Windows 8.1 but will also run Android apps as
well," Bajarin wrote recently for Time. "They are doing this through software
emulation. I'm not sure what kind of performance you can expect, but this is
their way to try and bring more touch-based apps to the Windows ecosystem."

These machines will be able to switch nearly instantly between the two
operating systems, according to Computerworld, either booting both interfaces
at the same time or running tablet apps meant for Android within a window,
explained Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.

"This is going to make buzz at CES," Moorhead told Computerworld. "OEMs will be
trumpeting this ... it's going to be a very hot topic [at the trade show]."

The move is the latest push back against Microsoft and its Windows 8 operating
system, an attempt at dramatic transformation of the traditional Windows
desktop to incorporate touch screens and portable tablet shapes.

Consumers responded poorly, with widespread complaints about an interface that,
while wonderful on tablets, essentially ignored the hundreds of millions of
computer users worldwide that rely on mice and keyboards to interact with their
systems. Desktop and laptop PC sales fell dramatically in 2013, according to
data from research firm IDC. And sales of tablets running Windows 8, while
growing, have in no way replaced them.

"The Windows-based tablet market … is expected to grow to 39.3 million units in
2017 from less than 7.5 million in 2013 and less than 1 million in 2011.
However, relative to a PC market size of roughly 300 million units, these
Windows tablets would add just a couple percent a year relative to PC growth,"
said Loren Loverde, a vice president with IDC.

Microsoft plans yet another update to Windows 8 to address user concerns,
likely called Windows 8.2. In the meantime the company has launched a campaign
to disparage systems running Google's OS, especially Chromebooks, which are yet
another alternative to the traditional Windows PC.

A new TV ads in Microsoft's "Scroogled" campaign suggest that a Chromebook is
"not a real laptop." That hasn't stopped the low-cost systems from taking off,
especially in education markets.

Moorhead suggests that “PC Plus” devices mean manufacturers won’t wait for
Windows 8.2 or other efforts to "fix" the operating system, instead
experimenting with ways to desert Microsoft for alternatives.

"[PC Plus] could get millions of consumers more comfortable with Android on
PCs," said Moorhead. "Just imagine for a second what happens when Android gets
an improved large-screen experience."

"This should scare the heck out of Microsoft," he added.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:

- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at
FreeLists.org

- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.

[opendtv] News: PC makers plan rebellion against Windows at 2014 CES, analysts say

Other related posts: