Fujitsu to Miss PC Sales Target Due to Weak Windows 8 Demand

News
By Zak Islam
published

Expected sales target decreased by around a million units.

Fujitsu president Masami Yamamoto has blamed "weak" demand for Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system for its ailing PC sales.

Japan's largest IT services company stressed that it'll miss its annual shipment target for personal computers predominately due to the poor demand for Windows 8.

Yamamoto said PC shipments for the fiscal year ending in March are expected to fall short of an October estimate of 7 million units, which may be around the 6 million market.

Fellow PC manufacturer Acer, meanwhile, expressed similar comments regarding the operating system. Its president, Jim Wong, said that the learning curve for touch will see Windows 8 not being adopted by consumers quickly. He added that the Windows 8 interface itself could "dramatically delay adoption by consumers."

PC vendors' frustration has been echoed in official figures pertaining to Windows 8's commercial performance. While the platform's touch demand is strong, Windows PC sales in the U.S. during the four-week launch of Windows 8 decreased by 21 percent when compared to the same period a year ago.

Companies including Acer, Sony, Toshiba and Dell, among others have all expressed their doubts regarding Windows 8's future. It was recently revealed that the operating system has fallen behind Vista in regards of usage share.

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Zak Islam
14 Comments Comment from the forums
  • greghome
    Solution: Continue selling laptops in Windows 7.....
    Reply
  • wlachan
    It has nothing to do with learning curve I am afraid. TOUCH is great for portable devices, but it has no place for regular computers. Why would I want to keep raising my arm and fingerprinting the screen when the mouse will do with lesser effort? Also, METRO UI is so poorly designed. Whoever pushed this crappy UI within MS should be ashamed.
    Reply
  • mstngs351
    Fujitsu execs point fingers to avoid taking blame. Check.
    Reply
  • EnFission
    Right I'm sure this has nothing to do with the fact that no one cares about Fujitsu as a PC manufacture, and that there are competitors out there who are just plain better.
    Reply
  • bigdragon
    Acer thinks there is a learning curve for touch while touch demand is strong. I know the insulated executives at these companies don't get out much, but how can they continue to completely miss that Metro is not designed to work with traditional keyboard, mouse, and touchpad? You need touchscreens to actually use it without going crazy! That is why demand there is strong! Traditional users without touch devices avoid Metro like the plague! Acer might as well stop selling non-touch computers if they want to stick with Windows 8.
    Reply
  • s3anister
    wlachanIt has nothing to do with learning curve I am afraid. TOUCH is great for portable devices, but it has no place for regular computers. Why would I want to keep raising my arm and fingerprinting the screen when the mouse will do with lesser effort? Also, METRO UI is so poorly designed. Whoever pushed this crappy UI within MS should be ashamed.
    Little slow on the Windows news, eh? Apparently, he was so ashamed he got ousted from his position as Windows President. /endsarcasm
    Link: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/steven-sinofsky-windows-tami-reller-julie-larson-green,19063.html
    Reply
  • max fountain
    Like in Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” - Microsoft Engineers Deliver a Global Extinction Event to Their Own Creation – The X86 PC Industry

    “Ironic outcome” doesn’t do justice to Microsoft’s latest attempt at a contemporary UI known as Windows 8. That is, given the collateral effect it’s having on already anemic PC sales in this perfect storm of market conditions. Traditional platform PC Industry C-Suite execs are now pointing quivering fingers as they give an accounting to their board of directors. Any BOD worth its salt should really be asking these highly paid suits why they’ve kept doubling down on Microsoft this long. Were they counting on some sort of “great awakening” of global PC sales ignited by the advent another stellar version of Windows. If so they must of either been high or just plain stupid. The most appropriate plurality is…dullards. Stockholders should demand a public accounting of the true culprits in military tribunal fashion. Yes, the boards themselves are responsible. Most of those BOD dudes are retired old nerds trying for another shot. We deal with a parade of these guys in NYC attempting to sell us on their roadmaps almost daily. As the saying goes “No fool like an old one”. Oh mother, how true.

    Windows 8 is built around new “hip UI" reminiscent of botched cosmetic surgery (like the lady’s face at the restaurant you try not to stare at). None of us here on Wall Street were surprised this thing sank like a rock and we won’t go public until the end of Q1 when final numbers post. Perhaps the most ironic outcome is the benefit to our industry itself now that we can better predict investor risk based upon how tightly coupled any firm’s roadmap is to Windows 8. I’m referring specifically now to X86 CPU firms since they’re genetically linked to Windows.

    The Microsoft legacy of inflicting poor user experiences doomed the Windows PC since birth. A certainty once there were any other alternatives. The market began moving past the Microsoft PC the exact moment the first email was received on a smart phone. Today’s young mass market user only adds tech that is lifestyle enriching and that user makes a value judgment within the first 15 seconds of use. So given what we know of the Microsoft user experience history, what are their chances of giving the traditional or non-traditional PC an attractive facelift? One you don’t just stare at in disgust in a cloud oriented marketplace where all the other patrons are productive, happy and attractive? Don’t stare!

    EXIT-X86 Windows 8 Prison Blues
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqio-PxEjHc
    Reply
  • Testgamma1
    greghomeSolution: Continue selling laptops in Windows 7.....
    Damn right,.
    Reply
  • apache_lives
    Im loving Windows 8

    vote me down and everyone will know your just a hater
    Reply
  • abbadon_34
    How about making a better and/or cheaper unit with Win 7 ? Is it really that hard to understand? People buy new hardware because they're old stuff ... is old and slow. Not because they want to learn a new way to do the same thing.
    Reply