14 DAY TRIAL // It is very common for analysts to come out and say what is what on the IT market and its various segments, so the update on the notebook situation wasn't unexpected, even if its implications, to some extent, were.
As some users may or may not know, the July-August period is otherwise known as the back-to-school season, for obvious reasons.
This year, the prospects of the PC market, and that of the notebook segment as a whole, weren't overly optimistic, though not as grim as those of the DRAM segment.
Fortunately, the period ended up allowing for a better sales performance than originally expected, with Windows-loaded notebooks selling especially well in August.
The fact that average selling prices of mobile personal computers dropped definitely played its part in this development.
For those that want details, the ASP for a Windows notebook was $477 in July and August, 7% less compared to last year.
This means that, though much more expensive notebooks were, and are, present and accounted for, sub-$500 models accounted for 65% of total sales.
"A strong promotional environment led consumers into the stores over the last part of the back to school season. The positive consumer response to aggressive notebook pricing, despite the continued demand for tablet computers, likely points towards a highly promotional holiday season ahead,” said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis for NPD.
All in all, total Windows notebook sales fell 4% in July and grew by 4% in August, allowed by the 12% growth of cheap laptop sales, even as expensive laptops fell 23% on-year.
"The sequential results from NPD's back-to-school point-of-sale (POS) data indicates that after a shortfall early in the year that was mostly related to the difficult comparisons to the binge of buying after the release of Windows 7, the Windows notebook market remains solid,” said Mr. Baker.
“The last two weeks of August are the most important period for back to school buying, and those weeks saw more than an 8% increase over last year in retail sales."