Failing PC Market Not the iPad's Fault

A recent study conducted by NDP says that the failing PC market is not the iPad’s fault. While originally believed to be the case, NDP says don’t give the iPad so much credit for this one.

The number of people who chose the iPad over buying a PC has actually fallen.

So, what exactly is hurting PC sales then? Stephen Baker, the Vice President of Industry Analysis at NPD, has a theory.

“The explosion of computer sales when Windows 7 launched, as well as the huge increase in netbook sales at that time, are much more to blame for weak consumer PC sales growth than the iPad,” Baker said.

“Overall it appears that the vast majority of iPad purchases to-date have been incremental to the consumer technology industry,” he added in a statement.

According to the report only 14 percent of early iPad adopters, meaning iPad owners of six months or more, abandoned a PC purchase for an iPad, and that dropped to just 12 percent of iPad owners who purchased over the past holiday season. In fact, “cannibalization of netbooks” is actually down by 50 percent among more recent iPad buyers, when compared to early adopter buyers.

The under $500 segment of the Windows consumer notebook market grew by 21 percent for the 6 months ending March 2011 to become the largest segment of the consumer notebook market.

"The conventional wisdom that says tablet sales are eating into low- priced notebooks is most assuredly incorrect," continued Baker. "The over $500 Windows consumer notebooks market is where PC sales have been impacted the most, with a 25 percent decline from October 2010 to March 2011."

The iPad 2 was released on March 11th and quickly outperformed its predecessor, selling around one million units in its opening weekend. The original unit took four weeks to reach that same goal. Recent quality and supply issues, however, have led to a predicted shipment shortfall throughout the year.