According to research from NPD, sales of Microsoft’s Windows 8 and Apple’s Macbook dropped 11% and 6% respectively on a year over year basis during the holiday season in the US.
NPD said that despite the hype and hope around the launch of Windows 8, the new operating system was unable to encourage holiday sales or halt the year-long Windows notebook sales decline.
The report found that the average sale price of touchscreen notebooks, which was about $700, accounted for only 4.5% of Windows 8 sales.
In November 2012, Microsoft had sold 40 million Windows 8 OS licenses in the first month since its launch on 26 October in 2012.
NPD vice president of industry analysis Stephen Baker said: "Consumer electronics remain trapped in a weak product cycle.
"Despite undeniable success in segments like soundbars, headphones with microphones, interchangeable lens cameras, cellular accessories and tablets, the inability of the CE market to find substantial new pockets of revenue looms menacingly over the industry’s future," Baker added.
Last year, a report from Comscore found that online holiday spending in the US increased 13% to $26.6bn compared to 2011.
