14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 8 will go on sale on Friday and, although Microsoft expects the new OS to sell in millions of copies in just a few months, analysts believe it’ll record a very slow start.
A wider adoption on desktop computers is going to be registered in 2013, Frank Gillett, a Forrester Research analyst, explained in a new report.
The Redmond-based technology company, however, is very likely to remain just a simple player in the tablet industry.
Microsoft will release the Surface tablet together with the Windows 8 operating system this week and, even though it already registers an impressive success, it won’t help the company beat Apple and its iPad.
Microsoft is expected to hold a 27 percent market share of the tablet industry by 2016 and approximately 14 percent of total smartphone sales, according to the report.
“Microsoft has long dominated PC units, with something more than 95% sales. The incremental gains of Apple’s Mac products over the last five years haven’t really changed that reality. But the tremendous growth of smartphones, and then tablets, has. If you combine all the unit sales of personal devices, Microsoft’s share of units has shrunk drastically to about 30% in 2012,” Gillett said.
Microsoft will continue to dominate the PC market, the analyst says, while iPad will still lead the tablet category. Google’s Android will be the king of smartphone sales, he added.
“Windows 8 will simply stop the shrinking, maintaining Microsoft’s share at about 30% through 2016,” Gillett concluded, pointing out that Microsoft’s main focus will remain the desktop market.