Windows 8 no help for tablet, PC sales

Microsoft Corp.’s new Windows 8 has not given a boost to U.S. sales of PCs and tablet computers, according to the NPD Group.

Since the highly anticipated operating system was launched Oct. 26, Windows device sales have fallen 21 percent compared with the same period last year, the market research firm said.

Notebook sales, which have been weak throughout most of 2012, were down 24 percent, and desktop sales dropped 9 percent.

Through Nov. 17, Windows 8 had captured just 58 percent of Windows computing-device unit sales. That compared with 83 percent for Windows 7 in the four weeks after that operating system’s debut, NPD said.

Windows 8 tablet sales have “been almost nonexistent,” with unit sales representing less than 1 percent of all Windows 8 device sales to date, NPD said Thursday.

“After just four weeks on the market, it’s still (too) early to place blame on Windows 8 for the ongoing weakness in the PC market,” said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD. “We still have the whole holiday selling season ahead of us, but clearly Windows 8 did not prove to be the impetus for a sales turnaround some had hoped for.”

NPD said its research excluded sales of the Surface with Windows RT tablet, which also launched Oct. 26. Microsoft has not specified how many it has sold.