Microsoft had their earning call which CFO Peter Klein was asked if tablets were cannibalizing PCs, to which he responded:
I think that as Bill [Koefoed] talked a little bit in his comments about netbooks and how netbooks were, they hit their peak last year in Q2, and I think what we’ve seen is over the course of this year in the consumer space, some of that volume being replaced with newer devices like Ultra-portables and tablets. And largely, these are second devices, not primary devices. And that’s caused a little bit of a drag on the consumer side.
What is clear is that Microsoft didn’t pull in the kind of sales they were expecting during the back to school and holiday sales. Where Microsoft is going wrong is consumers that might have picked up a netbook with Windows 7 Starter a tablet or a more powerful ULV ultraportable. Netbook Sales are past their peak, but it is important to note is that while the US might be “over it” when it comes to netbooks globally (and this is where is matters the most) current netbook sales are strong in emerging markets such as Indonesia, Brazil and the Middle-East. So even if US sales numbers are down globally numbers remain un phased. How this trend effects Microsoft is that in these emerging markets Windows isn’t the standard as many systems are sold without an operating system.
What we are seeing from these emerging market is that although tablets have fallen into favour netbooks still have the advantage if you weigh in function over price. In markets where a secondary device that costs more then a netbook and isn’t meant for content production but rather content consumption it is clear that netbooks won’t be replaced completely.
Sadly, Klein made no mention of Microsoft’s future tablet plans, but stated that netbooks were past their prime. We’re pretty sure that “next version of Windows” or whatever tablet OS Microsoft is planning couldn’t come soon enough for everyone.
Via Engadget
