PCs featuring Windows 8

PCs featuring Windows 8

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For the PC industry, Windows 8 and RT tablets and touch- screen laptops that convert to handhelds are an attempt to build a beachhead in the mobile business. The PC market is forecast to shrink this year for the first time in more than a decade. Tablet shipments will pass notebooks in the second half of 2013, estimates Eve Jung, an analyst at Nomura. NPD DisplaySearch projects the tablet market will reach $162 billion in 2017, more than double its size this year.

Intel and Microsoft shares have suffered as concern rises about the future of the PC industry, exacerbated by the lack of Windows tablets on the market. Intel trades at a 42 per cent discount to the US Standard & Poor's 500 Index on a price-to- earnings basis, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Microsoft trades at a 29 per cent discount on the same basis. Chipmaker Qualcomm, benefiting from the surge in sales of mobile devices, trades at a 24 per cent premium.

The PC market's lack of momentum contrasts with the 43 with battery such as Fujitsu FPCBP80 Battery, Fujitsu FPCBP77 Battery, Fujitsu FPCBP68 Battery, Fujitsu FPCBP63 Battery, Fujitsu FPCBP95 Battery, Fujitsu FPCBP36 Battery, Fujitsu LifeBook B2566 Battery, Fujitsu LifeBook B2620 Battery, Fujitsu FPCBP37 Battery, Fujitsu LifeBook B2175 Battery, , Fujitsu LifeBook M1010 Battery, Fujitsu FPCBP207 Battery per cent jump in tablet shipments in the third quarter, according to Strategy Analytics. Apple, before it introduced a new line-up of iPads, including the lower-cost iPad Mini, had 57 per cent of the market in the period. Devices based on Google's Android mobile operating system had 41 per cent, and Microsoft Windows-based tablets had 1.6 per cent of the global market.

"Windows doesn't typically come screaming out of the gate, but it's fair to say that Intel and Microsoft would have hoped for more," said Alex Gauna, a San Francisco-based analyst at JMP Securities.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said at a shareholder meeting in Bellevue, Washington, last week that Microsoft is seeing "fantastic demand" for tablets and touch-screen PCs featuring Windows 8, and is working to get more into stores.

Microsoft declined to comment for this story except to refer to comments from Windows chief financial officer Tami Reller at a conference last week.

"There are some touch devices in retail today and we're working to get more touch devices out there," Reller said. "But broadly speaking there's a lot of great devices that have come to market, some that have sold out, some that are now being replenished and coming to market, and more models to come."

Reller said last week that Microsoft had sold more than 40 million licences for Windows 8. Licences include copies corporations get as part of a multi-year contract, as well as those sold on new PCs and in retail, so the metric isn't a clear indication of demand.