DaaS pointed to as a long term answer once Windows 10 refresh wears off

The Windows 10 upgrade effect is going to continue working on the fortunes of the PC market into next year but the channel does need to start thinking of life beyond supporting an OS upgrade.

Since Q4 last year users started to move in ever greater numbers towards Microsoft's latest OS and as a result have been investing in fresh hardware.

That migration has been one of the main reasons the commercial PC market has remained a positive one throughout 2018.

Forecasts from Canalys looking forward to 2019 will also make reassuring reading to those in the channel that rely on hardware sales.

The analyst house is expecting the PC market will enjoy low growth next year with sales in APAC off-setting challenging conditions in Europe and China.

“Windows 10 refresh will continue to be the main driver of commercial demand for PCs in 2019,” said Canalys chief analyst Alastair Edwards.

“This will be buoyed by strong economic performance and business spend in the United States, the largest PC market in the world, as well as a continued global push to upgrade on the back of heightened IT security concerns," he added.

Canalys is also expecting next year to bring an easing of component supply constraints that have caused recent headaches in the industry.

"Pent-up demand from this year will boost growth in 2019 as these issues are resolved,” said Edwards.

Those resellers that had seen commercial PC sales chug along thanks to the Windows 10 refresh were given a note of warning that eventually that would wear off and they had to think of other ways of tempting users to invest.

Some of the suggestions from Canalys were around increasing consulting and looking at managed desktop and subscription services around apps and security as ways to generate longer term revenues.

Microsoft itself is fully aware that it has to come up with more than just Windows 10 and the firm revealed the first six partners that would be taking its desktop as a service offering out to market earlier this week.

Computacenter, Dell, HP, DXC, HCL and Accenture/Avanade were given the nod to take the Microsoft Managed Desktop (MMD) offering out to customers.

MMD brings together Microsoft 365 Enterprise, device as a service, and cloud-based device management.

"We believe that MMD will be an option that allows organizations to fundamentally shift how they think about and manage their IT. Through MMD, customers will be able to move toward a secure, always up-to-date environment with device management by Microsoft. As we expand the offering, our partners will play a key role in helping us bring MMD to market and support customers in their transition to a modern desktop," stated Bill Karagounis, general manager for Microsoft, in a blog post.