Samsung Exec Blames Windows 8 for Declining PC Market

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Considering the decline in sales happened before Win 8 was released, I doubt it had much of an impact. Was it supposed to rejuvenate PC business? Why? Win 7 is the most popular Windows ever, and there is no reason for the average user to upgrade.

There are always a number of factors involved in these things. Consider, an overclocked X58 based i7 920 is within spitting distance of Ivy Bridge (depending on app of course) - there has been no compelling reason to upgrade for many of us from a hardware standpoint alone.

It will be interesting to see if Haswell makes a difference. I'm expecting an average 15% increased performance overall compared to my 920, and that's enough for me to upgrade. (Of course Intel is confusing the issue by talking about Ivy Bridge-E, and that might mean I should wait for it to come out to best suit my purposes.)

I built a new computer for a friend using Win 8 and he loves it (came off of XP). I plan on replacing my Vista on one of my computers with Win 8 when I rebuild. The other has Win 7, I'll keep it.
 
Win8 is just a fraction of a bigger picture (PC Market). Judging from the failure of Win8, to conclusion of phasing out PC Market as a whole, is a mis-represtation of information on Samsungs end. Even though Win8 certainly put lots of users on edge, there's many more adopting this new style of personal computing.

Every now and then some radical change puts us one step forward, maybe Win8 is the start of a new change.

And last thing I want to say is no body forcing anyone to use or adopt or sell things they don't want, it's only their decision.
 
As I've said before, the erosion in the PC market is mainly due to two things: people who had little interest or need for a PC buying some other gadget, and longer lifetimes on hardware. These aren't the dotcom days anymore. The computer industry isn't the new hip thing it was anymore. It's mature. That means that things will change in small, mostly forgettable, ways. Most of the people to who a drop in TDP, or a drop in die-size, aren't the part of the market that has been lost or isn't buying. The broader market doesn't care about a faster transfer of a file over USB or through some new connection because they don't have the money to throw at a marginally increased benefit. Again, you also have to consider what it is someone can do on a computer. Things like Facebook and Angry Birds aren't going to magically get better by improved system specs. It used to be the case that the internet didn't work well if you didn't have a good system, so you had a bunch of people buying a machine, wanting something faster, and then going after the newest thing that claimed to be faster. The only place that happens now to any appreciable degree is if you're one of the potentially few million who might want to play Crysis 3 completely maxed. And even then, with all the dark clouds hanging over the economy in the US and around the world, not many people have the money to dump into a new system anyway. I'm not gonna try to convince anyone that Win8 is great or whatever - it's been out long enough and enough has been written about it at this point that anyone should be able to make up their mind by now.

But think about it this way - is there anything that an Operating System can do at this point in the maturity of computing to attract new consumers? I personally don't think there is. That's just the nature of a matured industry. For all the stuff that smartphones can do, the utility of the phone still remains basically unchanged. How many people with smartphones actually use them to make phone calls? Many are sending texts and e-mails or tweeting or posting on Facebook. The phone reached maturity, and there are still tons of people who use it. The same will happen with the PC. They've added touch, they'll make voice more of a central part next, then they'll add 3D control (like with Kinect or something), but soon the PC at its core will reach a point where it can't be made to do any more than what it does. Tons of people will likely still own and replace theirs as it ages, but the runaway growth of the industry is over for now.
 
bluerider: Just because everybody thinks that Windows 8 sucks does not mean that it has a "marketing problem" that is everybody's fault BUT the company that made Windows 8. You might find this hard to believe, but Windows 8 actually does suck, and no amount of marketing is going to convince anybody otherwise. The truth hurts.
 
[citation][nom]STravis[/nom]Samsung is making money hand over fist with their Android phones - so much so that Google is worried that they may be held hostage by them; of course Samsung has very little interest in PC's. They're not as lucrative.[/citation]
[citation][nom]nssv[/nom]When was the last time Samsung had a successful PC anyway?[/citation]
Well, their laptops are popular in my country at least...
[citation][nom]Stevemeister[/nom]PC demand has nothing to do with Windows 8 - I think there are three factors.1. The economy is not exactly going gangbusters for most folks2. Market saturation - lots of people have more than 1 PC . . I have 3 and only upgrade 2 of them on a 4 year cycle because I game. The folks who only surf the internet and read e-mail (like my wife) don't need a new PC to do that . . 5-10 year old PC's can still cope well with those kind of tasks.3. The biggest problem for Windows 8 is that Windows 7 actually works so well that for most people there is no compelling reason to change. Windows XP was actually a decent OS and the 64 bit version was very fast. Vista was a disaster and I suspect a lot of people held off switching from XP until 7 came out based on the early reports about how bad it was. While 8 is not a disaster, for most people there is simply no reason to voluntarily change something that offers no real advantage. . . . even if the price is reduced.3 years is too short a cycle for the average person to want to change their OS.[/citation]
I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head. Though i feel that had Windows 8 not been two OSes crammed into one in a very ugly way, people might have:
A) Upgraded at the cheaper price
B) Shown more interest in the touch-screen devices.

Right now, it's like neither of the two halves of Win 8 do their jobs without needing the unwelcome intrusion of the other.
 
It's more about any Core 2 Duo or Athlon 64 X2 with 2GB RAM and Windows XP being more than enough for the vast majority of people. This will probably stay that way for a while since websites also need to cater to much slower smartphones and tablets.

Also since those machines can handle Flash embedded 1080 video there aren't any formats I'm aware of close to fruition which these cannot run. It will be quite a while until 4K makes much headway. I'd wager a decent portion of new PC sales are not for replacing a slow computer but replacing one with a failed component not worth repairing.

 
unless win8 can go to a market share of at least 30%, i would avoid to use it.
i am afraid it is going to be a repeated case of win vista, stick to popular os platform always brings you convenience (currently it is win7, xp)
win8 only have oem version for buying, that's the other reason i avoid. if i change my motherboard, i will have to buy another copy of windows it is ridiculous. (this is going to slow the sales of computer parts)
Microsoft have been doing something to hurt their sales- brought out something that is not welcomed by customers, adopted strategy that is not welcomed by customers. i hope android/ linux could speed up their development on desktop os, then i could throw microsoft completely away from all my devices. android on tablet/ phone is good, next step should be on desktop

hint for microsoft: win9 should be based on win7: make it be light, efficient and updated, if lower price is possible please do so. no need any other fancy touch, blocks features, don't try to change my long set computing habit, your users are not stupid. APPLE will serve that market, and they are doing fine.

hint for google, other linux os developers: please make hardware makers to release drivers for linux. it is still not very common, still too many hardwares are windows compatible only.

PC will NEVER be replaced, every home, office desktop must still have a PC, for serious work, entertainment. demand of PC should keep declining for next few years, people might not need to change the PC so frequent as before, i review and change my PC parts every 2 years.
 
[citation][nom]house70[/nom]I forgot to mention the drivers; for Win7, one could use WinVista drivers just as well. Win8 required new drivers. The support did not keep up the pace.[/citation]
Win8 could use Win7 drivers
 
... Samsung Exec Blames Windows 8 for Declining PC Market? YOU don't say... OF COURSE!!! Everybody i know downgrades from H8 to S[H]EVEN... or buys a PC with Linux or empty to boot later in Win7...
 
I disagree with Jun Dong-soo.It's being unfair to Vista which was at least patched and workable.
Vista 64 bit ran great on my desktop PC with a quad core CPU with 8 Gigabytes of RAM when I built my desktop PC back then in 2008.Microsoft has no plans to fix how their bad User Interface works with Windows 8 and it will be likely just as bad as with Windows 9.Sure Vista likely ran like a slug early on on a lame spec PC with little system memory but with a good spec PC and being patched it was all right.
 
What is he saying? It's plainly not true! If I was Vista, I would be seriously offended by being compared to VistaBob 8 Squarepants!
First, W8 is selling HALF than Vista.
And, what's more important, Vista problem (being heavy) was fixing itself as more powerful PC came out, while W8 problem (UNUSABLE, business plan involving killing hw and sw third parties) is not going to fix itself!
Ballmer needs to get is head out of his *** and roll out a decent product (which involves having a great GUI as 7: no one in end user market cares if your kernel is better, or else Windows 9x would have never overcome Linux and BSD in first place!), and a decent business plan not involving *** off the rest of the world.
 
I've tried the consumer version of Windows 8 and it's not bad. What is unfathomable is the lack of a Start button on the desktop. Bizarre decision from Microsoft. Compounding this is the mouse to the side of the screen to bring up the options often does not work. This gives the impression of a very amateurish experience and I can't believe that Microsoft is allowing this unless they want to destroy an industry - and that is not hyperbole. Shame because the load time is sensational even on a mechanical disk.
 
pc shipments are also down as people may DIY build as it is getting easier day by day. I have been able to get all my friends and family off pre-builts as I will build for them 😛
only laptops are pre-built among them

only upgrade I did was shift my parents desktop from an anthon xp onto pentium 4 and they were pretty happy about it
 
Windows 8 is Microsoft's Little Engine That Could...but didn't. All they had to do was, ask users upon installation one simple question:

Would you like to try the new Windows 8 Experience?
Yes - For users that have a touch screen and want to launch applications with the Windows 8 Start Page

No - For users without a touch screen and/or prefer to boot into the Desktop, while using the traditional Start Menu to launch applications.
 
[citation][nom]tobalaz[/nom]Windows 8 without a touchscreen is junk.Sorry.Had to say it.Outside of Windows 8 packing the single highest amount of suck since Windows ME, there are other things to take into consideration before laying all the fail on the OS.1.[/citation]

I keep on hearing this same bullshit without any real justification. We now have half of our workforce moved over to Windows 8 and NO-ONE has any issues with Windows 8. EVERY single person is working as they did before and I for one, thankfully, enjoy the small apps that keep people off of the internet.

P.s. Rocking Windows 8 at home on my desktop and in work on my laptop. The new UI compliments the standard UI. No issues. Just because YOU do not like it does not mean that everyone else likes it.

Consumers can be dumb or led by whatever they hear! (Kind of like all those people that said they loved the improved quality of DVD while passing through Dixons... Yeah, ok, the adverts for DVD were playing from a VHS tape)
 
[citation][nom]bluerider[/nom]It is the vendors. How many Samsung, Asus, Acer commercials do we see for Window's PCs nowadays? All I see are android and apple commercials. If Samsung wants to blame anyone, they should blame their own marketing team for failing to market any of their Windows 8 PC's. Samsung paid lip service to Windows, then actively worked against the Windows brand, and now that it's reveling in its success, they blame Microsoft (who's surface commercials are the only ones I see). That's very underhanded.[/citation]

That a comment this true get so many thumbs down is just sad! People are just afraid of what they do not know. Not really a fitting mindset for modern age.
 
They have to blame someone, I guess. You look at Samsung laptops and I didn't see any of them that had touch screens (They may have some, but I didn't see any).

I have 8 on my desktop and it's great. I can do everything and more than I used to on 7.
 
[citation][nom]damianrobertjones[/nom]Just because YOU do not like it does not mean that everyone else likes it.Consumers can be dumb or led by whatever they hear! )[/citation]
And just because I don't like it now I'm dumb?
Just because my aunts, uncles, cousins and friends don't like it they're dumb too?
Because we've USED IT and can't stand it, we're DUMB?!
Because MS changed EVERYTHING about the OS, WE ARE THE DUMB ONES?!

Look, if you needed to make a backup, manage you disk partitions or manage user accounts, those features have ALWAYS been found in the control panel. They might have changed names, changed the category they're under, but ALWAYS were in the control panel.
To remove them for the sake of being different is just idiotic. To hide them in a "charm bar" is plain stupidity.
To blindly follow MS and swear its everyone else's fault, including the users, without looking at the company the compiled the smoldering pile of sh*t well...
Just because you're in the minority that actually likes Win8 tells me you're dumb or employed by MS.
If you've ever had a MS Word document close without saving because you moved the mouse from the left side of the screen to the right side of the screen too fast and the weather app popped up, well, you'd hate it too.
Its supposed to be MS WINDOWS, not WINDOW.
MS Is trying to do a unifying push on phones, tablets, laptops and desktops and its killing them.
Have a nice day.
 
The new UI ruined it for me. I tried it twice and still went back to 7. I loved Vista after SP1, but no service pack will remove the new Windows 8 UI, so for the first time since Windows 2000, I will skip this version of Windows.
 
It's because it is much harder to steel someone else's intellectual property and call it yours in windows. 8 ecosystem than in mobile, so Samsung has no interest to stay there for long
 
It's because it is much harder to steel someone else's intellectual property and call it yours in windows. 8 ecosystem than in mobile, so Samsung has no interest to stay there for long
 
It's because it is much harder to steel someone else's intellectual property and call it yours in windows. 8 ecosystem than in mobile, so Samsung has no interest to stay there for long
 
[citation][nom]tobalaz[/nom]Because MS changed EVERYTHING about the OS, WE ARE THE DUMB ONES?![/citation]

Sorry, not that i think that you are dumb in general, but here you make it sound like it, yes.
What magnificent have changed, other than your start menu is full screen and can run apps IF you want?
If you think that this is the first time that the menus have changed, look closer.

Also, remember the time when people hated the new start button? Good times...
 
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