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Microsoft quarterly sales rose, but PC makers still waiting for a boost

Dell's Official Flickr Page

Microsoft says sales rose about 3 percent in its most recent quarter. But analysts say the company still has to contend with a slowing market for personal computers.

The quarter ended in December was a big one for Microsoft, product-wise. It launched Windows 8 – which executives say is a total reimagining of the operating system in part because it was designed for touch screens.

The company says it’s sold 60 million Windows 8 licenses so far, but some are for computers that are still on store shelves. NPD Group analyst Stephen Baker says computer makers haven’t gotten the boost they were hoping for.

"Sales have been slow in PCs all year and I think the real challenge was that Windows 8 didn’t accelerate sales," Baker said.

Baker says Windows 8 will probably start to catch on by the fall when more touch-screen options hit the market. But he says PC makers face tough competition from a variety of inexpensive tablets made by companies like Apple, Amazon and Google.

In July 2017, Ashley Gross became KNKX's youth and education reporter after years of covering the business and labor beat. She joined the station in May 2012 and previously worked five years at WBEZ in Chicago, where she reported on business and the economy. Her work telling the human side of the mortgage crisis garnered awards from the Illinois Associated Press and the Chicago Headline Club. She's also reported for the Alaska Public Radio Network in Anchorage and for Bloomberg News in San Francisco.