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Tech Report: PC Sales Down 14 Percent In 2013

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — It's been a rough year so far for companies making PCs. Research firm IDC reports that PC sales were down 14 percent in the first three months of the year.

The firm, which has been tracking the industry since 1994, has gone as far as to blame Windows 8 for the sluggish sales.

I think Windows 8 hasn't been the blockbuster that Microsoft had hoped it would be. Part of that was that it got some bad press. I, like many, thought that taking the 'Start' menu was kind of a dumb move, making it harder to get to the desktop.

Tech Report: PC Sales Down

But we've also seen the tablet market has clearly become a big competitor to the PC, not to mention the onslaught of the smartphone. Another research group, Gartner, came out with its projection for the tablet market with a nine-percent increase from year-to-year and is looking at $2.4 billion in sales for this year.

But are we close to getting a tablet that has the power of a PC? It depends on how you look at it. I have The Yoga by Lenovo. It's a very nice laptop that folds into a tablet, but it's a big bulky tablet. You really wouldn't want it as a tablet.

Then there's the Microsoft Surface where they tried to make a good tablet/PC combo, but I think they blew it on both counts. So, it's theoretically possible, but it doesn't seem like we're quite there yet.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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