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Consumers are unwilling to shell out premium prices in order to purchase touchscreen laptops, according to Bob O’Donnell from American analyst firm IDC.
Speaking to Computerworld, O’Donnell states the disparity between IDC’s initial predictions – which estimated that 17 to 18% of all notebooks would be touchscreen-equipped by the end of this year – and the latest revised figures, which now sit at a level between 10 and 15%.
It is particularly bad news for Microsoft, whose flagship operating system Windows 8 was largely dependant on the success of both hybrid laptops and tablets, including the Windows Surface, which Microsoft itself recently admitted was behind schedule. Computer manufacturers have also been seen to sport overly-optimistic expectation concerning the sale of touchscreen laptops, with Acer’s president Jim Wong stating in May that roughly a third of all Acer laptops would include touchscreen displays by the end of 2013.
O’Donnell goes onto to suggest some advice for Microsoft if it wishes to recover sales of Windows 8, explaining that the release of Windows 8.1, which is said to fix several complaints with Windows 8, including the restoration of the Start button, later this year won’t be sufficient. ‘They should have restored the Start menu, too,’ he states, referring to Windows 8’s reliance on the new Metro interface, which provides a tablet-like fullscreen display of app tiles instead of the classic list interface.
