Windows 8 blamed as PC market tumbles 14% The PC market shrank nearly 14 per cent in the first quarter, its biggest recorded drop, as Windows 8 was blamed by analysts for making PCs "less attractive" to consumers. Manufacturers had hoped the new Microsoft operating system would reignite the market when it was introduced last October, but it has had the opposite effect, according to IDC, the research company. "Microsoft will have to make some very tough decisions if it wants to help reinvigorate the PC market," Mr O'Donnell said. Figures from research company Gartner on Wednesday showed 79.2m units were shipped in the first quarter, down 11.2 per cent. It said the trend was that consumers were continuing to migrate to tablets and smartphones. Gartner drew a distinction between the consumer and professional PC markets, saying the latter accounted for about half of all shipments and was growing, "driven by continuing PC refreshes" by business. However, Windows 8 was not making an impression here either, Mikako Kitagawa, Gartner analyst, told the FT. They're upgrading to Windows 7. Corporate users are very conservative about adopting anything new," she said. Gartner said Europe, the Middle East and Africa had suffered the steepest decline in shipments, down 16 per cent, while the US had suffered its sixth consecutive quarter of declines and was down 9.6 per cent. Hewlett-Packard clung on to its number-one position worldwide ahead of China's Lenovo. It had a 14.8 per cent market share against Lenovo's 14.7 per cent, according to Gartner. HP's shipments fell 23.7 per cent year on year, according to IDC, while Lenovo's were flat, and number-three Dell saw shipments fall 10.9 per cent. HP shares were down nearly 2 per cent in extended trading on the news.