Touch panel supply and pricing keys to boosting Windows 8 demand

Aaron Lee, Taipei; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES [Wednesday 2 January 2013]

Demand for Windows 8 will rely heavily on the supply and pricing of touch panels. Once touch panels can be supplied cheaply and in large volumes, sources from retail channels expect demand for Windows 8 to rise quickly.

Currently, Windows 8's licensing fees are more expensive than those of Windows 7, while supplies of touch panels are limited, causing notebooks with touchscreen control features to be US$100-120 more expensive than those without. As a result, consumers are currently in favor of purchasing Windows 7-based notebook models.

Digitimes Research estimates that touchscreen-based notebooks only accounted for 0.5% of total notebook shipments at the end of 2012. The percentage will have a chance to rise to 10% in 2013.