Windows 8 Off To A Slow Start, But Windows 8 Tablets Will Prevail With “No Compromise” Says Pundit

TMCnet’s Tom Keating says after using and testing the Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro 700t (XE700T1C) for a few weeks he’s come to the conclusion that Windows 8 tablets will without a doubt beat Apple’s iPad tablets and Android tablets.

Keating argues that the reason is simple and can be summed up in just two words – “No compromise”. With Apple tablets and even Android tablets there is always some compromise.

With Apple he says the biggest compromise is the lack of Flash support, and that and if he hears one more person tell him Flash is dead and HTML5 is the way to go he’s going to smack them, noting that he’s lost count of how many times on his iPad he’s visited a website that uses Flash video and is unable to play it.

I have to agree. I encounter video content several times a day every day on the iPad that I’m locked out of. As Tom Keating says, very frustrating. Flash is anything but dead, and not likely to be any time in the foreseeable future. Tim for Apple to climb down from its peevish dismissal of Flash and make it work with the.

Keating continues with a lengthy inventory of iOS and Android compromises with which Windows 8 tablets are not afflicted, and summarizes that he has no doubt that Windows 8 tablets will take over Apple’s tablet dominance.

He makes a strongly reasoned case, but look at the real world sales performance of Microsoft’s Surface and other Windows 8 tablets so far…….

Windows 8 Off To A Slow Start – NPD Group

The consumer Windows PC and tablet market didn’t get the boost it needed from the launch of Microsoft’s Windows 8 in the U.S. Since the Windows 8 launch on October 26, Windows device sales have fallen 21 percent versus the same period last year**, according to market research firm The NPD Group’s Weekly Tracking Service***. Notebooks, which have been weak throughout most of 2012, saw that trend continue as they fell 24 percent. Desktop sales have fared better this year, dropping just 9 percent.

“After just four weeks on the market, it’s still early to place blame on Windows 8 for the ongoing weakness in the PC market,” says Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD. “We still have the whole holiday selling season ahead of us, but clearly Windows 8 did not prove to be the impetus for a sales turnaround some had hoped for.”

Since its launch, Windows 8 has captured just over half (58 percent) of Windows computing device unit sales, compared to the 83 percent Windows 7 accounted for four weeks after that launch. Windows 8 tablet sales have been almost non-existent, with unit sales representing less than 1 percent of all Windows 8 device sales to date.

“The bad Back-to-School period left a lot of inventory in the channel, which had a real impact on the initial sell-through rates for Windows 8,” said Baker. “The strong performance of Windows 8 notebooks with touchscreens, where Windows 8 truly shines, offers some reason for optimism. These products accounted for 6 percent of Windows 8 notebook sales at an average price of $867 helping to re-establish a premium segment to the Windows consumer notebook market.”

Average selling prices of Windows computing devices have jumped significantly this year. Last year, overall ASP was $433 while this year’s ASP over the past four weeks has risen to $477. Windows 8 notebooks have seen a nearly $80 rise in selling prices versus the prior year, propelled by the aforementioned strong performance of touchscreen devices and a solid uptick in the pricing on mainstream notebooks. Windows 8 desktop ASPs were also strong with selling prices up nearly 10 percent, driven by the same factors as notebook sales.

*Excludes sales of Microsoft Surface

**Windows 8 initial four week launch sales include the time period of October 21 – November 17, 2012.

***NPD’s weekly POS information is derived from a subset panel of retailers that also contribute to NPD’s projected monthly POS panel.

Via:
http://goo.gl/5JhIb

For Tom Keating’s full commentary visit here:
http://goo.gl/vFRmo