According to a Goldman Sachs report acquired by The Seattle Times, Windows lost massive share in the global compute market-- from being the OS of choice in 97% of all computing devices in 2000 to just 20% in 2012.

The reason for such a drop? The mobile device explosion, of course.

When one (as Goldman Sachs does) counts smartphones and tablets with laptops and PCs Google is 2012 platform leader-- Android OS resides in 42% of global computing devices.

Apple comes 2nd, with the combination of OSX and iOS taking over 24% share. Interestingly Apple share jumped massively during the 2004-2005 period (from 5% to 21%), a shift Goldman Sachs attributes to the "more mainstream adoption of non-PC consumer computing devices."

Microsoft follows with just 20% share.

Goldman Sachs describes 2012 as a "critical" year for Microsoft if the company wants to expand its share of the consumer compute market-- a market, one has to emphasise, is rather influential on an enterprise sphere in the days of the BYOD trend.

Global smart connected device (the combination of PCs, tablets and smartphones) shipments grow by 27.1% Y-o-Y during Q3 2012, with shipments reaching a record of 303.6 million units worth $140.4 billion, IDC reports.

The analyst has further positive forecasts for the segment-- Q4 2012 shipments will grow by 26.5% Y-o-Y (or 19.2% Q-o-Q) to 362m units as demand for tablets and smartphones fuels sales during the holidays.

According to the analyst Q4 2012 tablet Y-o-Y growth will reach 55.8%, while Continue reading...

The smaller iPad will "turbocharge" the 7-inch tablet market IHS iSuppli reports, pushing the device category to nearly 100% growth as shipments reach 34 million in 2012 and 67m in 2013.

According to the analyst 2011 7-inch tablet shipments total 17m.

“Just as Apple has dominated the market for 9.7-inch tablets the company is poised to rule the market for 7-inch products, driving rapid growth of the segment in 2012 and 2013,” iSuppli remarks. "Apple will successfully position the smaller iPad Continue reading...

High prices and ineffective marketing are the chief reasons customers ignore ultrabooks in favour of hotter mobile devices-- and IHS iSuppli slashes ultrabook shipment forecasts for the 2012-2013 period.

The analyst predicts 2012 ultrabook shipments will total 10.3 million (with Q4 2012 to account for around 50% of the amount), down from previous projections of 22m units for the year.

iSuppli also revises 2013 forecasts-- 44m, down from a far more optimistic figure of 61m.

"The PC industry Continue reading...