You hit the nail on the head there. Its the lack of software thats causing the weak sales of hardware. I would say around 95-99, or in that area is when computers took off. Remember when the Pentiums came out and every month there was a new cpu speed almost. I had bought a compaw p100 and 3 months later they had 150s and 166s. Granted there is a very good chance my memory is off, but I do know sales were awesome. Voodoo was king.
The only industry I see staying strong is GPU manufactures, and probally CD/DVD drives. People are getting into the digital age now and myself including. I love ripping movies, and am looking into a dvd burner now. 1:1 copies would be really cool.
If you ask me, if the gaming market wasn't there, alot of companies would be hurting for sales more then they are now.