Windows 7 is still more popular than Windows 8 with sales still under 10%.
New research shows that Windows 8 is still only being used by 9.3% of the computing market. In comparison, Windows 7, which launched in October 2009, was twice as popular 12 months after launch.
The bulk of the users are consumers who have purchased a new PC, netbook or notebook that comes preinstalled with the Windows 8 software a chart from Statista (based on data from Net Applications reveals.
A look back shows that Windows 7 took only a few months to surpass 10% market share and reach 20% at the close of its first year.
According to retailers boxed sales of the Windows 8 upgrade kit are “slow” also impacting sales is the overall downturn of PC sales which fell 6 percent in Q3 2013 compared with the same quarter last year, according to the latest report from market research firm IDC.
Some 956,000 units were shipped in the quarter, IDC estimates. That appears to compare with around 1.017 million shipped in Q3 last year.
That performance contrasted sharply with the New Zealand situation, which saw some 166,000 units shipped across the Shaky Isles in Q3 – a surprising rise of 21 percent, according to IDC.
“Healthy channel inventory levels in the New Zealand market as a result of strong sell-through rates allowed PC vendors to drive channel uptake of new Intel Haswell-based notebooks,” according to IDC analyst Amy Cheah.
Cheah says the gains reflect the recovery of the Kiwi domestic economy.
Meanwhile in Australia, PC spending remained subdued amid tough business conditions as political distractions from the general elections suppressed public sector IT spending, while currency depreciation increased prices and squeezed retail and vendor margins.
Cheah added: “That said, consumer confidence in Australia has steadied in recent months while business confidence also improved . Considering a bullish New Zealand economy as well as the Christmas and education buying season, IDC believes the A/NZ PC market is lining up to exit the last quarter of 2013 on a positive note.”
In Australia, H-P recorded a 23pc market share in Q3, followed by Apple on 15pc, Dell 14pc, Acer 11pc and Toshiba 9pc.
According to analysts Windows 8 has started slowly and continued to grow slowly, and, despite a small increase in sales following the launch in Australia sales have now plateaued.
