The move towards thin clients has slackened after some growth prompted by Microsoft’s decision to deck Windows XP support.
IDC said shipments of terminal clients and thin clients amounted to 1.35 million units in the third quarter of this year, falling by 1.8 percent and bucking predictions.
While Windows XP made some move from PCs to thin clients, public projects were delayed and that accounts for the slippage.
Thin clients represent a massive 97 percent of enterprise client devices. Within the thin client umbrella, those without operating systems – so called zero clients – still hold 24.6 percent share.
The winners in the thin client race for the third quarter are HP, Dell, Ncomputing, Centerm and Igel. Of these, Dell saw growth of 16.6 percent compared to the same quarter last year, while Ncomputing’s share slumped by 44.7 percent. HP more or less held its own although its share fell 4.3 percent compared to the same quarter last year.
