Analyst: Windows 8 to fare better on desktop than tablets
A Forrester Research report says Microsoft will dominate desktop computing, but remain an also-ran in the mobile world.
Windows 8 will help Microsoft maintain its overall market share -- but won't come to dominate the mobile device landscape, according to a new report from Forrester Research.
Forrester's Frank Gillett said in a new report that Windows 8 would get off to a slow start before gaining wider adoption on desktop PCs in 2014. But Microsoft will remain "simply a contender in tablets, and a distant third in smartphones," Gillett said.
According to Forrester's projections, Microsoft will see continued growth of Windows and Windows Phone, but its share of the mobile market will remain small.
Gillett's forecast said that by 2016 Microsoft will own 27 percent of the tablet market, but only 14 percent of the smartphone market. "And some of us are very skeptical they'll even get to 14 percent," he said.
The impact of Windows 8 will be felt heavily in corporate environments, where Windows still reigns supreme. Information technology professionals will find themselves in a world where Microsoft dominates on the desktop, Apple owns the tablet market and Google's Android is the most popular smartphone operating system, he said.
