Touchscreen notebooks may not be able to achieve the market penetration expected as channel retailers have placed most of their focus on clearing existing inventories of Ivy-bridge-based notebooks launched in the first half of 2013, and are delaying their promotions of Haswell-based models, which are all feature touchscreens, according to sources from channel retailers.
Most channel retailers originally expected the penetration of touchscreen notebook to grow to 30-40% in the third and fourth quarters, up from around 10% in the first and 15-20% in the second; however, the retailers are now concerned that the percentage may have trouble reaching even 15-20% in the second quarter.
Since channel retailers are offering discounts of over 30% on Ivy Bridge-based notebooks, most consumers have turned to purchasing Ivy Bridge models instead one with the latest platform.
The sources pointed out that it may take a while before touchscreen notebooks become mainstream products since prices have not yet reached the sweet spot, while consumers are still not familiar with touch controls, and there is a limited number of applications capable of supporting touch controls.
Source: DigiTimes
