After two years of declining computer sales worldwide, things have finally flattened out. That may mean the industry is in for a turnaround, but it may not.<\/p>\n
I figured computer sales would slump because many people are switching to tablets. For the typical human, a tablet (or phablet or phone) can do the work they otherwise did on a PC. Computer sales had to go down as those folks made the switch.<\/p>\n
Also, you have to consider that today’s PC is much better made and more reliable than systems of the 1990s, when the industry experienced insane, year-over-year growth. Back then, I’d buy a new system every two or three years. Now I average about 5 years for a PC, sometimes longer.<\/p>\n
One item that may be playing into the increased sales in a tangential way is Microsoft’s drop of support for Windows XP. That decision motivated a lot of business owners to buy new systems — or refurbish their existing models. They would get a new motherboard, solid state drive (SSD), and Windows 7. That’s technically not a new computer, but it’s a sale!<\/p>\n