Chennai: PCs dominance today is a debatable topic. With every coming year seeing increased use of mobile devices such as Smartphones and tablets, one might argue that PCs are nearing its doom. While that might prove to be true, the PC gaming segment despite facing stiff competition from the consoles seems to have gained some ground this year, to the joy of many. But that doesn't change the fact that Android and iOS tablets are becoming a threat to the PC industry with every passing day, and that the latter is pulling out all the stops to ensure it doesn't lose the battle.
Such a competition can force industries to try exciting new things, some of which turn out to be a profitable success and some fail miserably, and 2013 saw both. Listed below are five big blunders the PC industry could have done without, as compiled by Digital Trends.
Windows 8.1 fails to right a sinking ship
Microsoft’s Windows 8 was not short of contradictory features that made PC enthusiasts to detest and criticize it. The company was surprisingly quick to respond; it released a major update in Windows 8.1 within a year. But the issue remained. While 8.1 brought with it a set of features and improvements that was well received, it still fell short. The Store is marginally better, the app-view is a little like the much loved start menu and you can boot to desktop now, but the core contradiction of Windows 8 remained.
It is clear that with Windows 8, the software giant was turning its attention to touch based devices, a small portion of the PC segment. So, it should come as no surprise to Microsoft that its latest iteration of Windows failed. Certain portions of the OS are designed to be used with a touchscreen whereas a few others require you to use a mouse, and both these portions must be used to make the most of the OS.
Adobe gets hacked, loses millions of passwords
Adobe, being one of the world’s biggest technology companies showed us that they are just as vulnerable to hackers as us; maybe even more so as they have a lot at stake. Earlier this year, in the month of October, the company discovered that they have been breached and were forced to announce that over 3 million passwords were compromised. But the actual number turned out to be a whole lot more. Even though the company later said that about 38 million passwords were lost, independent security firms later found evidence that up to 150 million accounts were compromised.
What’s worse is that, encrypted data such as credit card numbers and expiration dates were also accessed for at least some of those accounts. While the encryption might keep those data safe, the fact that such sensitive information made its way into the hackers’ hands is damaging enough.
Google’s Chrome Pixel priced at “say what?”
Chrome OS is receiving a somewhat mixed response, some like it for its simplicity and some simply hate it. While it is difficult to class Chrome OS as a failure, it is not so when it comes to Google’s Chromebook Pixel. The search giant over ambitiously priced the Pixel at $1,299 expecting it to compete against Apple’s MacBook. But what it did not see was that, it ridiculously overpriced the Pixel.
Released in early 2013, it was plain that Google was intending to compete with Windows and OS X with its Pixel running Chrome OS. But that, in itself is not the core issue. One of the pros of Chrome OS was its ability to offer an enjoyable PC experience on a hardware that was worth only $200, but when Google decided to stick it in a hardware that was just as normal and price it higher, it lost its charm. Pixel’s problems extend beyond the OS running it. Even at its release, its Intel Core i5 processor was paired with only four gigabytes of RAM and an inadequate 32 GB SSD, whereas its similarly priced competitors boasted much more impressive specs. The areas where Pixel fails to impress only increases as you look closer.
Acer and Asus get KO’ed in sales
While almost every tech company in the world is being affected by the declining computer sales. Acer and Asus were hit the hardest. The Taiwanese companies have been a cornerstone of the laptop market over the last decade, but now they have succumbed to the increasing competition. In the U.S., the companies now rank outside the top five computer manufacturers by sales volume and in the third quarter of this year, their year-over-year market share declined by over 20 percent. Both these companies heavily depended on those who buy inexpensive laptops, and with these consumers now opting for Lenovo’s and Toshiba’s even more affordable offerings leading to Acer and Asus’ fall.
Not everything is gloomy for Asus though, they are now the third largest tablet manufacturer in the world behind Apple and Samsung. Unfortunately, Acer does not share the same bright light. They only claim 2.5 percent of the market today and will probably go further down unless they find a means of fighting back.
The Leap falls short of success
Leap is one of those exciting innovations that unfortunately failed when it came to practical usefulness. Had they got their formula right, this revolutionary motion sensor technology designed to detect hand movements, would’ve been a huge success; at least in some segments and would not have made in onto this list. The device works very well under bright lights, like in a showroom or in a controlled environment. But it fails miserably under the normal work desk lighting conditions. Leap's limited area of detection combined with its difficulty to track rapid hand movements makes it awkward to use. Besides that, its usability was limited to games and did not extend to productivity apps thanks to its limited software library and its inability to precisely detect hand movements.
Fortunately, Leap has another chance to improve courtesy of its deal with HP that brings Leaps to laptops. But a lot of work still needs to be done before it starts replacing a touchpad or a mouse.
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