PC shipments crater and tablets are the bogeymen

The third-quarter numbers are in, and both of the major PC shipment bean-counting organizations agree that worldwide PC shipments are down year-on-year (IDC says down 7.6 percent, Gartner says 8.6 percent), but US shipments held relatively stable (IDC says down 0.2 percent, Gartner says up 3.5 percent). In short, it was the worst back-to-school quarter in five years.

Worldwide, Lenovo and HP are running neck and neck, both eking out a bit of growth; Dell's shipments are up slightly, but Acer and Asus have hit the skids, down 20 to 30 percent from last year. In the US, the big stories are Lenovo, with an increase of 25 percent or so; Toshiba, up about 14 percent in the US; and Apple, with a decline of 11.2 percent (IDC) or 2.3 percent (Gartner), depending on whom you believe.

IDC's numbers don't include iPads or "Android-based tablets with detachable keyboards." Gartner's numbers don't include "media tablets such as the iPad." Neither company breaks out Surface sales, which are presumably too small to make any difference.

Tablets are the bogeymen, of course -- blamed by one and all for sapping PC sales.

I tend to look at the numbers with a Windows 7 vs Windows 8 eye. Consumer PC shipments in the US invariably come with Windows 8 pre-installed, and corporate shipments commonly end up with Windows 7. Outside the US, PC shipments aren't always tied to an operating system -- any operating sytem. The fact that Lenovo dominates worldwide shipments, with 14 million PCs that may or may not have Windows pre-installed, yet only hits fourth place in the US, with 1.7 million PCs, speaks volumes: The US accounts for about 20 percent of all PCs sold worldwide, yet Lenovo only sells about 12 percent of its PCs in the US. Could the difference be at least partially attributable to flexibility in shipping Windows 8 pre-installed?

IDC says that Windows 8.1, due next week, led to an uptick in PC shipments late in the quarter:

While shipments remained weak during the early part of the quarter, the market was somewhat buoyed by business purchases, as well as channel intake of Windows 8.1-based systems during September.

To my jaundiced eye, that's a danger sign. If the general acceptance of Windows 8.1 mirrors that of Windows 8, we're going to see a whole lot of Q3 PC shipments sitting on the shelves this Christmas. Granted, enterprise customers will be moving from Windows XP to Windows 7 as fast as they can, and that will drive some PC shipments. But it doesn't seem likely that this one-time shift will turn the PC market around even temporarily, much less permanently.

While I have great hopes that Windows 9 will show a significant turnaround in the evolution of Windows -- primarily growing the phone system "up" into tablets, rather than forcing the desktop version "down" -- it's hard to be optimistic about Windows 8.1's prospects. A significant non-BandAid update to the PC version of Windows could well be a few years away, and the market's changing on Internet time.

A year ago Steve Ballmer predicted that 400 million Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 devices would be in use by now. No matter how you count the chips, Win8 reality hasn't quite met up with Ballmer's expectations.

This story, "PC shipments crater and tablets are the bogeymen," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/t/microsoft-windows/pc-shipments-crater-and-tablets-are-the-bogeymen-228542
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The Global Spa and Wellness Summit 2013MissFit

The Global Spa and Wellness Summit 2013

Hiya Everyone,

I attended the 7th edition of Global Spa and Wellness Summit on Saturday. It was held for the first time in India. The summit was a congregation of travelers, ministers of tourism, entrepreneurs and big players in spa and wellness industry. The Summit was based on the theme that these days a traveler is not just a business or a leisure traveler but also a wellness traveler. As in nobody wants to come back fatigued and obese from travel. A traveler wants his/her wellness also taken care during his/her travel. I found this idea intriguing.

In the beginning of the summit, there were certain presentations which explained the meaning of wellness tourism from international perspective, followed by presentations which talked about the estimates regarding the growth of this sector. Honestly, I was in double minds before attending this event. As I thought that after attending the event, what value addition will I come back home with?

1 hour into the summit, I was still looking for my answer as to why have I come here when one of the speaker said that why are we here? We are here because we are not normal. We are here because we think about health and fitness so much that we cannot separate it even from our travels. Huhh! from then on I was all ears to all the speakers and I came back home with some good food for thought.

The best part of the summit was that I got to interact one on one with a minister from tourism and a young entrepreneur. Basically I asked them a question that as a young Indian entrepreneur and as a fitness person who loves yoga, believes in ayurveda, and who likes to explore this world of spas and wellness. I want to see opportunities. As when I look as a lay man from outside I feel that spa and wellness is more of a luxury thing in India. It is still not a culture in our country. Where, How and what shall I initiate with to start to make it a culture?

Mr Veer Singh, A young entrepreneur who started Vana answered my question. He said,” The chances are immense you will have to explore and find out what do you find more creative and intriguing”. He said,” when you come to such summits and meet new people then extract new ideas and information from them. And be an opportunist ”.

I got his point . He told us about his wellness retreat Vana. I  loved the concept of Vana. It is a wellness retreat in Dehradune. I believe it is something similar to Yoga retreat that I attended in Goa. Something like living in the nature, eating simple Indian food and rejuvenating oneself with yoga therapies and ayurvedic massages.

Honestly, when I came back home. I found myself questioning that I do not go to these events and summits as a media person. I am not a media person. nor I want my company to be a media company. We are all about fitness, health and wellness. And such events kind of help me question myself as to what more I am yet to explore on things related to fitness, health and wellness.

Mr Veer Singh gave me USB of Vana. It had some enchanting instrumental music and some document on the vision and philosophy of Vana. The music took me back to my yoga retreat days when I use to stay in a bamboo hut and travel on foot through the barren beaches and jungles. Whenever I think what I want to be in next 10 years of my life. I think of practicing Yoga at advanced level. I think of running in the jungles, running on the mountains or the outskirts of the cities. I think of being the most expressive dancer. I think of diving into the deepest sea.

So my dream is to live somewhere in between the nature Loud music of the gyms and fast life of the cities is not my energy. I always believe that choosing a career option is about how do we chose to express ourselves in life. I would chose to express through peace and nature.. How? I am not sure But one day I will for sure and then may be I will sit and connect the dots.

It got a bit emotional Let us carry forward the same emotional energy in the comments. Have you ever thought that 10 years from now how would you like to express yourself in life? #foodforthought

These are some pic from the event

Mr Amitabh Kant from Incredible India

Mr Veer Sing from Vana

Love

Nidhi

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