http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-windows-8-sales-2012-11
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2012/11/19/retailers_report_slow_win8_sales/
Really bad news for Microsoft
Sales of its brand new operating system, Windows 8, are "well below projections," inside the company says Paul Thurott at Windows SuperSite.
Thurott is probably the most plugged-in Microsoft reporter. When he says something, you can trust it.
Microsoft is blaming its PC partners for the slow start, says Thurott. His source blamed PC makers "inability to deliver".
This is a strange, and frankly pathetic, explanation.
There's no question Apple makes the best laptops and companies like HP, Dell, and Asus, chase after what Apple makes.
But the PC makers are still reliant on Microsoft and its software. And they can only sell computers running on Windows.
The only real explanation of worse than expected sales is that Microsoft decided to mess with the world's most popular operating system and it's blowing up in its face.
As Thurott puts it: "Microsoft’s new whatever-the-F-it-is operating system is a confusing, Frankenstein’s monster mix of old and new that hides a great desktop upgrade under a crazy Metro front-end."
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-windows-8-sales-2012-11#ixzz2D3XcJ6h1
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2012/11/19/retailers_report_slow_win8_sales/
Expecting Windows 8 sales to start growing more rapidly post-launch, however, may be wishful thinking. The lack of demand NewEgg is seeing jibes with figures released last week by analyst outfit Forrester, which found that only 5 per cent of IT managers planned to upgrade in the next year.
On Friday, longtime Redmond-watcher Paul Thurrott blogged that Microsoft insiders have told him that the initial Windows 8 sales figures have been "disappointing," but that the company puts most of the blame on PC makers' "inability to deliver."
Indeed, many retailers have reported difficulty getting Windows 8 kit from OEMs, many of which don't plan to launch their full Windows 8 product lines until next year's CES conference.
But Thurrott himself speculated that a variety of factors have led customers to take a "wait and see" attitude toward the new OS, which he said has caused the Windows 8 launch to go off more like that of Vista than of Windows 7. "All of this was avoidable," he wrote.