One downside about having a nearly universal dominance on the PC operating system market is that you are going to get a part of the blame when things are less than ideal.
And things have been less than ideal for the PC hardware industry for a while now.
The end result is that, rightly or wrongly, Microsoft continues to be blamed for the collapse of the PC market. Another report has painted a worrying picture and revealed a decline in desktop and notebook shipments — another report has urged Microsoft to cut the price of the Windows operating system.
Research firm Canalys just published its numbers for the second quarter of this year, which confirms that the PC market fell 7.4 percent in this this period.
Notebooks, actually witnessed an even steeper decline of 13.9 percent.
There are several reasons cited for this decline, and Canalys says that the high price (licensing and retail) of Windows is one of it. This high premium that Microsoft commands means that PC manufacturers around the globe cannot boost their sales by making their products more affordable.
Tim Coulling, Canalys senior analyst said:
“Component pricing has been an issue, particularly with multi-touch screens, though scale economies make this less of an issue as demand increases.
The price of Windows itself is a contributing factor and one that Microsoft must address as a matter of urgency. Its PC OEM partners are in an increasingly difficult position and consolidation in the PC market is inevitable within the next 12 months.”
Back in March of this year news came out that Redmond was preparing a major Windows discount with the intention of supporting hardware partners in their efforts to bring more and more affordable devices to the market.
Unofficial reports said that Microsoft is offering a $20 discount for OEMs that built netbooks below 11.6 inch form factor. And notebooks, tablets and hybrids that featured displays smaller than 10.8 inches were also said to be getting the same $20 discount in licensing plus a free Office 2013 license.
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