PC Sales Way Down From Microsoft's Q4 2008 Prediction

No surprise here, PC sells during the Christmas buying season fell below Microsoft's earlier forecast report. PC sales fell by 0.4% in Q4 of 2008 after increasing as much as 15% in Q3. Microsoft originally had predicted that sales would grow as much as 10 or 12% in the last quarter of 2008.

"We're not economic forecasters, and there is a high degree of uncertainty in outlook based on the state of the economy. As a result we've adjusted our guidance approach as follows. At the top end we're assuming a mild recession, and a relatively modest growth rate for all IT-based products. While at the bottom end we're assuming a deeper recession in the economy an end-season lower growth for IT." said Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell "Clearly there is a possibility that the economy recovers faster than we predict or that it deteriorates more severely. In all scenarios we're focused on maintaining the positive delta in growth rate between our revenue and the overall IT environment."

Clearly the economy is still weathering a recession but things are beginning to turn upwards slowly again.