Microsoft Hope That Windows 8 Has Come To Stay For Good

A top Microsoft executive has claimed that Windows 8 is off to a solid start and that its sales will pick up in the coming months with the launch of new touchscreen devices and the implementation of new retail strategies from Microsoft. Windows 8, Microsoft’s premier product that generated immense hype before its official launch on October 26 last year, is yet to take the world of technology by storm. In terms of sales, however, Windows 8 has been pretty much neck and neck with its predecessor. By early January, Microsoft had sold more than 60 million units of its latest operating system. experts from Synapse Communications believe it is a record similar to the one pertaining to Windows 7 that was launched more than three and a half years back.

Tami Reller, chief financial officer of the Windows unit, said in an interview at the Microsoft campus near Seattle,”We’re only just getting started, there’s a lot yet to come.”

“Touch laptops and convertibles, we’re really just starting to see these and over the next couple of selling seasons we’ll have them across all form factors and all price ranges,” he further said.

Reller believed that the forthcoming Acer tablets and HP laptops could give the Apple iPad and Android devices a good run for their money and that the new products would help in meeting the rising demand for Windows 8. Reller viewed the limited supply of touch screen devices during Christmas as the reason why Windows 8 failed to find as many takers as it should have.

“At holiday there were certain devices that were limited in their volume.

We sold out of a lot of the most interesting things,” said Reller.

Tracking Growth of Surface Tablets

The Surface tablets were launched alongside Windows 8 and expert Windows developers from Synapse Communications feel incumbent upon itself to share their performance with its readers. Microsoft has been coy about revealing the number of Surface tablets that it has sold thus far. As per the findings of the research firm IDC, the quarterly sale of the tablets stands at 900,000, which seems like a diminutive figure when compared to the 23 millions units of the iPad that were sold by Apple during the same period.

That Windows tablets have the potential of appealing to their target audience was proved by the results of a survey conducted by Forrester Research. According to the survey, only 2% “information workers” were using a Windows tablet at work but 32% were keen on using one as their next work tablet, which means that the sale of Surface and Windows tablets could increase up to 200 million units.

Microsoft Draws Flak From Detractors

The results of a Reuters survey conducted in mid-December last year revealed that consumers preferred Apple and Android products over Surface tablets. Microsoft’ detractors believe that the company has not imparted enough training to sales people and that it has failed to apprise consumers of the new devices that run on Windows 8.

“I think we can do better and we’ll work with them (retailers) to do better,” said Reller. “That’s not a criticism of our retailers. But we are definitely going to do more at retail to make that experience better.”

Reller, however, was satisfied with Windows 8′s progress thus far.

“This is a solid start. But we are just getting started,” she said. “We have a lot of reasons to be optimistic.”

Posted in: Koko News,World News