The firm said that lower prices, cloud updates, consumers’ “addiction” to apps, and other factors will drive the tablet market.
Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, said, “Growth in the tablet segment will not be limited to mature markets alone. Users in emerging markets who are looking for a companion to their mobile phone will increasingly choose a tablet as their first computing device and not a PC.”
Source: Microsoft Obsolete by 2017, Report Says By Alex Johnston
Apple is way down as well, but this reflects other factors such as leadership and competition; it's profits have been and will continue to be staggering.
The challenge Microsoft faces now is how to stay relevant.
Can it catch up in the tablet and smartphone market, where it’s been operating for years without much success, or must it try something completely different?
“Wall Street would probably welcome that news,” says one expert, but it’s not clear it would make an impact, or how exactly the company even would reinvent itself.
That may be the most troubling sign of all.
Source: Microsoft: Obsolete By 2017? by Free Britney
Microsoft’s popularity could drop even further due to the increasing interest on and usage of tablets and smartphones instead of personal computers, says the report.
“The traditional PC market of notebooks and desk-based units is expected to decline 7.6 percent this 2013,” according to Gartner’s press release. “This is not a temporary trend induced by a more austere economic environment; it is a reflection of a long-term change in user behavior. Beginning in 2013, ultramobiles will help offset this decline, so that sales of traditional PCs and ultramobiles combined show a 3.5 percent decline in 2013.”
In conclusion, Gartner says lower prices, consumers’ addiction to apps, and better features will put tablets on top of the game.
Source: Microsoft obsolete by 2017 - report By Cool Buster