Customers holding back until
Windows 8 is released, as well as businesses completing the refresh of their inventories, triggered a drop in PC sales over the past three months as compared to last year, a dip that may recover by year-end, experts say.
The Windows 8 trough - the suppression of PC sales because customers want to see Windows 8 before deciding to buy it or something else - was definitely a factor in the numbers, says Ezra Gottheil, senior analyst with Technology Business Research.
"That a new operating system suppresses sales in the quarter preceding its availability is proven by history," Gottheil says. "It even happens to
Apple."
