Windows Vista isn’t just an important application to Microsoft, it is also an important tool for component manufacturers to get new customers or get its current customers to upgrade. It seems that the eternal delays of Windows Vista has started to affect the component market where motherboard manufacturers are awaiting a tough season. Analyst Henry King at Goldman Sachs has namely announced that the number of shipped motherboards went down with 4.2 percent compared to last month. This despite the fact that King had predicted a rise of 3.1 percent for October. The reason seems to be that many are waiting for Vista and simple postpone their upgrades.
“The reduction may signal fewer orders of semiconductors and related components from PC makers because of lower demand. Much of the slowdown has been caused by Microsoft Corp’s delay in introducing its new Windows Vista operating system, King wrote.”
They estimate that the delay of Vista can result in slower sales costing about 4 billion in the USA alone. A clue to how much Microsoft means to the PC market.
