Growth in sales of personal computer applications in the US and Canada slowed signficantly in the second quarter according to figures released by the Software Publishers Association in Washington. Sales rose 13.9% on the second quarter of 1992 to reach $1,600m but growth in the first half was 16.6% to $3,050m, pointing up the deceleration – sales had increased by 20% in the first quarter. Unit sales increased by 25.2%, underlining pricing pressures that have caused Software Publishing Corp to take a big hit to restructure (see front). Sales of Windows applications grew 52.7% in the quarter, and accounted for 48% of industry revenues, or a total of $775m. Sales of MS-DOS applications were $495 million, but continued to slide, declining 16.2% for the quarter – and the decline would have been even larger but for a 28% increase in MS-DOS word processor sales. Sales of Macintosh applications recovered in the quarter, growing 14.1% to $267m after declining in the first quarter. Word processors remained the largest application category, with sales of $258m, up 36.5%. Sales of Windows and MS-DOS word processors increased 64% and 28%, respectively on strong shipments of new products. The spreadsheets category was the second largest, with sales of $211m but sales were down 8% on the figure one year earlier, since MS-DOS ones fell faster than Windows ones grew. The database category was third largest, with sales of $112m in the quarter, an increase of 38% compared with the second quarter of 1992 – with Macintosh database sales up 90% for the quarter. Sales of MS-DOS databases declined 26%. Home Education was the fastest-growing software category, with sales up 55% to $35.7m as people buy something to keep all those ValuePoints busy. Sales in the other two home-oriented categories were more mixed with entertainment software sales up 22% overall, Mac fun and games was up 26%. Finance software sales for the home declined 14% for the quarter, as weakness in MS-DOS applications, down 56%, more than offset strength in Windows, up 58%, and Macintosh, up 294% – once again, the Mac is playing big in the home for the first time as prices continue to tumble.
