2013 Could be a Difficult Year for the PC Industry: Analyst

[btarunr]

Big tradeshows such as the International CES are often used as a benchmark to gauge which areas of consumer-technology are faring better than the other. Industry analyst DigiTimes observed that PC is riding the CES bus on an uncomfortable backseat, which is an indication that the year could be difficult for the PC industry in general.

According to the analyst, although PC makers are aggressively promoting their Windows 8 creations - notebooks, desktops, and dockable tablets, - TV, living-room web-enablement, is attracting the most attention. Why this spells a bad news to PC makers is that with web-browsing being the most popular PC usage activity, no longer needing a PC, and doing so on web-enabled TVs could pose a disruptive innovation for the PC. Also, the theme for 2013, with PC makers appears to be more of cutting prices, instead of new innovations.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[TheMailMan78]

Man I hate it when I'm right.

 

[3870x2]

This has been quite obvious to anyone who isn't mentally retarded or living in a cave.

 

[cadaveca]

Man I hate it when I'm right.

Sure.

This has been quite obvious to anyone who isn't mentally retarded or living in a cave.

Right, but the real reasons as to why have been glossed over so hard by the media, I doubt anyone can really she through the shellac to the actual cause.


The global economy is truly in a recession right now. People simply cannot afford luxury stuff like PCs. I get so many comments from other parents locally, and they all say the same thing:




"How can you afford to have four kids?"



The house I live in now, 6 years ago would have cost $175k. Today, it's appraised at $475k.

If you want to buy a house here in Canada, you need a 15% down payment. For $475k, that's nearly $75k.

I bought my first house nearly 15 years ago with $4k in cash in my pocket.

That inflation is killer, and I live in the one country that apparently wasn't too affected by the recent global economic problems. I say that's BS, because if we haven't been affected, and this is going on, I cannot imagine how bad it is elsewhere.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Sure.



Right, but the real reasons as to why have been glossed over so hard by the media, I doubt anyone can really she through the shellac to the actual cause.


The global economy is truly in a recession right now. People simply cannot afford luxury stuff like PCs. I get so many comments from other parents locally, and they all say the same thing:




"How can you afford to have four kids?"



The house I live in now, 6 years ago would have cost $175k. Today, it's appraised at $475k.

If you want to buy a house here in Canada, you need a 15% down payment. For $475k, that's nearly $75k.

I bought my first house nearly 15 years ago with $4k in cash in my pocket.

That inflation is killer, and I live in the one country that apparently wasn't too affected by the recent global economic problems. I say that's BS, because if we haven't been affected, and this is going on, I cannot imagine how bad it is elsewhere.

Bought my house for 98k two years ago. Now its at 90k. They say things are improving but um.......the reality of things are much different.

 

[3870x2]

Bought my house for 98k two years ago. Now its at 90k. They say things are improving but um.......the reality of things are much different.

That is very true. The media always puts on a front making people think the economy is getting better, but it isn't any better for the average person than in 2008.

As to the PC situation, not having enough money hasn't stopped anyone. Half of those dumbasses with the latest iphone/ipad/galaxy Siii, etc... either have them on a loan or on a contract.

Not being able to afford something isn't keeping people from buying anyway.

 

[Aquinus]

Bought my house for 98k two years ago. Now its at 90k. They say things are improving but um.......the reality of things are much different.

It depends on where you live in the country. It isn't the same everywhere. In NH you're lucky to find a house for 200k. For a decent house you're looking at 250k-350k with plenty that exceed that.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

haha yea things arent improving, when MC Donalds is your primary source of new jobs in a region that says two things

there is very little money, and people are desperate for work, its cheaper to eat 3x a day at Mc Donalds than to make an actual meal and thats not just for one person but 4-5 ppl together.

and lets face it a PC is very much a luxury item, but then so too is that big ass 50 inch flat screen tv the major difference is ppl can go without the PC aka smartphone etc but oh boy now my TV can surf the web offer me netflix etc it becomes a cheaper easy to market product when PCs havent really changed. PCs have lost the wow awesome factor they had years ago making them a harder sell in a tough economy.

In the end the economy is not improving its in flux stable but its certainly not getting any better. with weak economy and only weak jobs that offer $7.50 an hour which after taxes drop you down to $5 no ones buying jack shit at list where i am. And i know my region is in better shape than many others at least there IS WORK HERE.

 

[3870x2]

It depends on where you live in the country. It isn't the same everywhere. In NH you're lucky to find a house for 200k. For a decent house you're looking at 250k-350k with plenty that exceed that.

When I was going to work for the NSA, I was going to move to Baltimore, north of DC. A house was starting at $550,000, if you wanted a yard with it. Rent with a yard would have started at $2000, anything nice was $2600 or above.

It is one of the reason that I turned down the offer, they were only going to give me 14.4k for housing a year.

 

[Aquinus]

And i know my region is in better shape than many others at least there IS WORK HERE.

Ehhh, there are jobs in a lot of areas. The problem is that there isn't enough skilled labor to do these particular jobs that already have job openings. You can't expect to get a degree in just anything and expect for it to get you employed. Despite what everyone wants to do with their lives, you need to consider for a moment that there may be no jobs or money with what you want to do and you need to adjust to satisfy the needs of the economy. It's all the people who think that they don't who are in trouble and think that the economy is in the crapper. There are plenty of software development and system admin jobs in southern NH and in the greater Boston area, but if you're looking for something like a social work job, good luck finding much of anything.

 

[TheMailMan78]

When I was going to work for the NSA, I was going to move to Baltimore, north of DC. A house was starting at $550,000, if you wanted a yard with it. Rent with a yard would have started at $2000, anything nice was $2600 or above.

It is one of the reason that I turned down the offer, they were only going to give me 14.4k for housing a year.

I got a half acre of land, 3 bedroom house and a two car garage for 98k. 5 minutes from a beautiful river.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

Ehhh, there are jobs in a lot of areas. The problem is that there isn't enough skilled labor to do these particular jobs that already have job openings. You can't expect to get a degree in just anything and expect for it to get you employed. Despite what everyone wants to do with their lives, you need to consider for a moment that there may be no jobs or money with what you want to do and you need to adjust to satisfy the needs of the economy. It's all the people who think that they don't who are in trouble and think that the economy is in the crapper. There are plenty of software development and system admin jobs in southern NH and in the greater Boston area, but if you're looking for something like a social work job, good luck finding much of anything.

you dont need a degree to make $50k a year up here, if your willing to put your life on the line to an extent you can dig worms at 15-30 cents a piece with an average of 500-1000 per tide 2 tides a day the average worm digger makes around $100-250 a day 6 days a week if you want to bust ass well you get the idea problem is we have whats called honey pots think quick sand but its mud and sucks your down far quicker. usually people dig in pairs its also physically grueling work.

essentialy in my state you dont need to be smart to make a living you just have to be willing to cripple yourself before you hit 50 lol

 

[Prima.Vera]

...
and lets face it a PC is very much a luxury item, but then so too is that big ass 50 inch flat screen tv the major difference is ppl can go without the PC aka smartphone etc but oh boy now my TV can surf the web offer me netflix etc it becomes a cheaper easy to market product when PCs havent really changed. PCs have lost the wow awesome factor they had years ago making them a harder sell in a tough economy.
...

Agree. People are stupid. I have use my TV as a monitor for 5 years now. I can switch TV/PC from the press of 1 button. Don't need ubber expensive WEB TV or some other crap...

 

[bim27142]

Why this spells a bad news to PC makers is that with web-browsing being the most popular PC usage activity, no longer needing a PC, and doing so on web-enabled TVs could pose a disruptive innovation for the PC.

It may slow down the PC Industry but surely it won't kill it. I still can't stand web-browsing from a tablet and especially from a Smart TV... mouse and keyboard and a typical desktop (not mobile) web browser still work best for me.

 

[sy5tem]

well PC are staying in enterprise e.t.c.
gamers buy PC.

but everybody else use all flavour of pad's... much more enjoyable...

i prefer it that way... instead of buying 299 crap-o-rific laptop.. they buy pad's

and serious worker and also gamers buy pc. i was bound to append..

 

[Depth]

The market stagnated itself. So what if the 680 is out, I have a 580, why would I want to upgrade?

This is very apparent in Intels case, who has gained ground ahead of AMD. Intel essentially became its own competitor when the price started to outweigh the actual gain in performance from an upgrade. I'll rather stick to my i7-940 than burn a hole in my bank account for two extra cores.

 

[TheGuruStud]

More false doom and gloom.

Remember when laptops would make desktops obsolete 5 yrs ago and that's the only thing people would own?
Remember when netbooks would do the same thing to both laptops and desktops 2 yrs ago?
Hell, I remember WebTV LMAO.

I also remember when they unconvincingly lied about the housing market and economy for years (and still are).

I don't know a single person that really uses any functions on their smart TV. It's all marketing.
Most of these new devices are very expensive and people simply cannot afford them.
There's a reason why the Nexus series are incredibly popular - price! So, yeah, the OEMs are focusing correctly on lowering the cost of products.

Bottom line is that economy is an indication of how well PCs will sell, not how "crappy" they are in comparison to devices that CANNOT fill the same role.
People will always buy a shiny new device at the onset, then demand will wane when their pockets are empty and marketing wears off.

Analysts make money off trading stocks from the BS they spew. Stop listening to them.
There's a few reputable analysts, but they're not the ones you're going to be reading news about.

How about stopping the HDD price fixing, thereby reducing costs of PCs/peripherals and increasing demand (people want more storage)?
Perhaps the morons (like HP) will learn something about wasting all their money on useless buyouts (Palm Lulz) and partnering with intel on crap.

What the headline should say is that PC manuf. will no longer be able to make high profits off cheap hardware without doing any work.

 

[TheMailMan78]

More false doom and gloom.

Remember when laptops would make desktops obsolete 5 yrs ago and that's the only thing people would own?
Remember when netbooks would do the same thing to both laptops and desktops 2 yrs ago?
Hell, I remember WebTV LMAO.

I also remember when they unconvincingly lied about the housing market and economy for years (and still are).

I don't know a single person that really uses any functions on their smart TV. It's all marketing.
Most of these new devices are very expensive and people simply cannot afford them.
There's a reason why the Nexus series are incredibly popular - price! So, yeah, the OEMs are focusing correctly on lowering the cost of products.

Bottom line is that economy is an indication of how well PCs will sell, not how "crappy" they are in comparison to devices that CANNOT fill the same role.
People will always buy a shiny new device at the onset, then demand will wane when their pockets are empty and marketing wears off.

Analysts make money off trading stocks from the BS they spew. Stop listening to them.
There's a few reputable analysts, but they're not the ones you're going to be reading news about.

How about stopping the HDD price fixing, thereby reducing costs of PCs/peripherals and increasing demand (people want more storage)?
Perhaps the morons (like HP) will learn something about wasting all their money on useless buyouts (Palm Lulz) and partnering with intel on crap.

What the headline should say is that PC manuf. will no longer be able to make high profits off cheap hardware without doing any work.

People use a PC to surf the web for junk.
Tablet: Check!

People use a PC to check twitter and facebook gossip.
Tablet: Check!

People love laptops because they are mobile.
Tablet: Check!

The second they can get console port GPU performance into a tablet for cheap its over for the PC mass market. PC's are the next ham radios. Render farms are whats next because tablets can do EVERYTHING except gaming and rendering that people need done on a PC or laptop. If you buy a desktop today for just surfing the web, email, bank account status and a little facebook you are an idiot. THAT is what most people use a tablet for.

 

[cadaveca]

What the headline should say is that PC manuf. will no longer be able to make high profits off cheap hardware without doing any work.

I'd say it should say that they don't know how to market to the general public, and have spent far too long in cubicles.

I don't need any analyst to tell me that sales are hurting everywhere. I paid my power, heat, and phone bill yesterday afternoon, and that cost me $1200 all together.

And it'll cost me that again next month. Actually, it'll probably be more, since it's been warm, hovering around 0c.

I have more money than ever before, but, everything costs more. The PC industry, overall, has not increased it's pricing. There are still products at all these price points that have existed for the last 10 years. The only thing that has changed is that you get more grunt for the same dollar.

The industry itself has not changed with the rest of the world, and it's finally caught up to them. The fact tech OEMs have gone from bi-yearly platform releases to annual releases, the fact that Windows is also now a yearly thing, says for more than any analyst can.

If these companies hadn't started releasing products so often, they'd not have made sales, and you'd have heard all this three years ago.

 

[TheMailMan78]

I'd say it should say that they don't know how to market to the general public, and have spent far too long in cubicles.

I don't need any analyst to tell me that sales are hurting everywhere. I paid my power, heat, and phone bill yesterday afternoon, and that cost me $1200 all together.

And it'll cost me that again next month. Actually, it'll probably be more, since it's been warm, hovering around 0c.

I have more money than ever before, but, everything costs more. The PC industry, overall, has not increased it's pricing. There are still products at all these price points that have existed for the last 10 years. The only thing that has changed is that you get more grunt for the same dollar.

The industry itself has not changed with the rest of the world, and it's finally caught up to them. The fact tech OEMs have gone from bi-yearly platform releases to annual releases, the fact that Windows is also now a yearly thing, says for more than any analyst can.

If these companies hadn't started releasing products so often, they'd not have made sales, and you'd have heard all this three years ago.

Its also why you see NVIDIA withe the Tegra, AMD with the APU and Intel with low power draw x86 focusing on the mobile markets also. Its just the industry trend. Its gonna happen.

 

[cadaveca]

Its just the industry trend. Its gonna happen.

Unfortunately, it's too late to have the impact most OEMs are hoping for, and their marketing sucks hardcore. I guess we'll have this conversation again next year.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Unfortunately, it's too late to have the impact most OEMs are hoping for, and their marketing sucks hardcore. I guess we'll have this conversation again next year.

Its gonna get worse honestly. I just got a $60 dollar a month PAY CUT thanks to Uncle Sam in my pay check alone and I suspect it will take a few months but I bet people will be spending less on electronic junk. After all 60 bucks a month for my lil time job is a credit card payment on a PC. Never mind the fact we have even more new taxes coming down the pipe that havent hit people yet.

 

[Crap Daddy]

People use a PC to surf the web for junk.
Tablet: Check!

People use a PC to check twitter and facebook gossip.
Tablet: Check!

People love laptops because they are mobile.
Tablet: Check!

The second they can get console port GPU performance into a tablet for cheap its over for the PC mass market. PC's are the next ham radios. Render farms are whats next because tablets can do EVERYTHING except gaming and rendering that people need done on a PC or laptop. If you buy a desktop today for just surfing the web, email, bank account status and a little facebook you are an idiot. THAT is what most people use a tablet for.

Right. I'm typing this entry on a tablet which I'm holding on my fat belly while I'm flat on my back in bed.

 

[cadaveca]

Its gonna get worse honestly. I just got a $60 dollar a month PAY CUT thanks to Uncle Sam and I suspect it will take a few months but I bet people will be spending less on electronic junk. After all 60 bucks a month for my lil time job is a credit card payment on a PC.

60x12 =720. That's the affordable PC for many households. I am well aware of tax increases taking away that cash, that's why I have the opinion I do.

Right. I'm typing this entry on a tablet which I'm holding on my fat belly while I'm flat on my back in bed.

 

[3870x2]

@TMM

It's funny you say that about console GPU quality tablets, because a tablet will run circles around an Xbox 360 all day. Now all they need is the development horsepower behind it.