(Windows on Demand)
Background
The IBM PC was announced on
August 12, 1981 and became available for sale two months later. Because IBM
encouraged other companies to develop IBM-compatible PCs, it quickly became a
standard for the whole PC industry. Compaq introduced the first IBM-compatible
PC in January 1983 and over 100 other companies followed in the next decade. In
the early 1990s Microsoft wrestled away IBM’s leadership of the PC standard
PCs based on the original IBM PC
architecture have sold 580M units in 25 years worth nearly $B 1,000 in the USA.
Worldwide sales of MS-DOS and Windows PCs since August 1981 have surpassed 1.5B
units with a value of $B 3,100. The revenue figures include initial hardware
sales only and exclude PC software and services.
|
|
U.S.A. MS-DOS and
Windows PC Sales |
|
|
Period |
Million Units |
Value $B |
|
1981-1985 |
3.8 |
10.5 |
|
1986-1990 |
28.1 |
76.4 |
|
1991-1995 |
64.3 |
153 |
|
1996-2000 |
162 |
335 |
|
2001-8/2006 |
267 |
424 |
|
8/1981-8/2006 |
580 |
998 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
World Wide MS-DOS and
Windows PC Sales |
|
|
Period |
Million Units |
Value $B |
|
1981-1985 |
5.7 |
16.9 |
|
1986-1990 |
60.3 |
181 |
|
1991-1995 |
172 |
447 |
|
1996-2000 |
444 |
1,010 |
|
2001-8/2006 |
855 |
1,440 |
|
8/1981-8/2006 |
1,540 |
3,100 |
The estimates are from two market research reports by Computer
Industry Almanac. The Worldwide PC report has yearly sales for desktop and mobile
PCs for the USA and six regions of the world. The Computers in-use report has
PCs in-use estimates for 57 countries, major regions and worldwide.
Reality
The structure of PC industry is almost unique. The original
equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that produce and sell PCs bear most of the risk,
while the downstream suppliers of components make most of the profit.
Suppliers of PCs are struggling to identify meaningful
differentiation vs. competitors. This leaves manufacturers competing primarily
on price, which exacerbates the pressure on margins.
The apparent inability to differentiate PC products drives
the industry's focus on price competition. The downward movement of pricing is
also due to the true role of Brand Name PC “manufacturers” as PC assembly firms
and not component manufacturers.
Dell, HP & Compaq, IBM & Lenovo, Acer, NEC & PB, Toshiba and
Gateway do not manufacture the Motherboard or CPU or Memory or Video or Sound
or DVDRW or Ethernet or hard drive (except some IBM and some Toshiba hard
drives) or Power Supply or any other PC component. They simply assemble the PC
in their own specific casing that bears their name stickers and carries their
model numbers.
PC Industry Solution
There is no difference in components between the major PC brands. All PC
brands are the same apart from casing, name stickers, model numbers, and Price.
A breakthrough in brand differentiation has recently emerged in the PC
market through PC system restore: A method where a customer, who’s PC breaks
down, would go through a painstaking procedure in order to restore PC’s
Operating System to manufacturer’s original configuration and thus relieving
the manufacturer from Customer Service complaints and fixing the PC in the
comfort of customer’s home or office without having to call a repair technician
to remedy the Software problem.
The current PC
brand name System Restore methods require the installation of up to 18 CD’s
plus hours of user input configurations and often always a hard drive space
waste. All the latter are for the sole purpose of restoring the system to its
original configuration that can be achieved with fully automated WonD.
Brand
Name manufacturers who are in need for efficient backup solutions
Potential
Market
In the first 30 years of the PC
industry—from 1975 to 2004—cumulative PC sales surpassed 1.4B units. In the
next five years—2006 through 2010—cumulative PC sales will reach 1.3B units or
nearly as much as the first 30 years. Cumulative PC sales reached nearly 130M
units in 1990, over 1.6B in 2005 and are forecasted to top 2.9B in 2010.
The leading PC companies have
changed considerably in the last 20 years as seen in the next table. Until the
early 1990s Apple or IBM was the worldwide leader in PC unit sales. Since 1994
Compaq, Dell or HP have been the leader in PC unit sales.
|
Worldwide
Sales |
1991-1995 |
1996-2000 |
2001-2005 |
2006-2010 |
|
BRAND |
Million Units |
Million Units |
Million Units |
Million Units |
|
Dell |
5.4 |
42.1 |
133 |
246 |
|
HP & Compaq |
21.3 |
95 |
130 |
205 |
|
IBM & Lenovo |
18 |
43.5 |
64.8 |
107 |
|
Acer |
1.7 |
9.5 |
28.8 |
79 |
|
NEC & PB |
9.3 |
25.7 |
26.5 |
38 |
|
Apple |
16.2 |
17.6 |
17.2 |
33 |
|
Toshiba |
4.6 |
15.9 |
24.2 |
41 |
|
Gateway |
3.8 |
18 |
16.5 |
32 |
|
Total PC Sales |
201 |
492 |
810 |
1,300 |
Dell’s 5-year PC unit sales have
grown from 5M+ during 1991-95 to 42M from 1996 to 2000 and to 133M PCs during
2001-05. Further growth to 246M units is forecasted for the next 5-year period.
HP is a strong second and could do better if its current PC growth continues.
Lenovo with its IBM acquisition will remain #3 in the next five years. Acer is
projected to have the strongest growth in the next five years.
These are some of the results from a new market research reports
by Computer Industry Almanac. The Worldwide PC report has yearly sales for
desktop and mobile PCs for the USA and six regions of the world from 1990 to
2011. The report also has sales estimates and projections for eight leading PC
manufacturers.
WonD: The Advanced Solution
WonD (Windows on Demand) is a system backup
program designed for PC manufacturers to reduce Customer Service costs and
increase customer satisfaction.
The majority of client’s complaints are related to Software issues, which
are often mistaken as a Hardware problem that prompts PC user to call
manufacturer’s Customer Service in order to lodge a complaint.
The sole function of WonD is to pinpoint whether a client’s complaint is
due to Hardware issue or Software issue and then rectify the latter.
WonD will restore the PC to manufacturer’s original
settings within minutes then, if the PC functions normally, a client’s
complaint was a Software issue (which is the case of 99.3% of all customer
complaints). However, if the PC does not function properly after running WonD,
then client’s complaint is related to the Hardware itself (which is the case of
0.7% of all customer complaints) and the manufacturer will send a replacement
Hardware part.