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Sales of Windows PCs plunged ahead of the forthcoming release of Windows 8, but Microsoft saw strong pre-sales for its next-generation operating system ahead of its Oct. 26 launch.
Though sales through Microsoft's Windows division were down by a third in the most recent quarter, the Redmond, Wash., software giant saw $783 million in pre-sales for Windows 8. That's a number 40 percent higher than comparable pre-sales for its predecessor, Windows 7, InformationWeek noted on Friday.
The 33 percent decline in revenue in Microsoft's Windows division did not include pre-sales of Windows 8, as that revenue was deferred to the launch quarter. It also did not include sales of Windows 7 PCs that are eligible for a $15 upgrade to Windows 8, which amounted to another $384 million in deferred revenue.
However, Microsoft did note that "competitive pressures" in the market also contributed to a decline in the previous quarter. Sales of traditional PCs have been greatly affected by the popularity of Apple's iPad.
"The launch of Windows 8 is the beginning of a new era at Microsoft," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. "Investments we’ve made over a number of years are now coming together to create a future of exceptional devices and services, with tremendous opportunity for our customers, developers, and partners."
With Windows 8 pre-sales reaching nearly $800 million, the new operating system has seen pre-sales 40 percent higher than Windows 7, which launched in late 2009. The company plans to spend $1 billion to advertise its fall product lineup including Windows 8 and the new Surface tablet running Windows RT, a version of Windows 8 compatible with low-power ARM processors.
"We’re incredibly excited to be approaching general availability of Windows 8 and Windows RT," said Kevin Turner, Microsoft chief operating officer. "We’ve already certified more than 1,000 systems for Windows 8 from our hardware partners, ranging from the smallest tablets and convertibles to touch-enabled ultrabooks and all-in-ones to the most powerful desktop computers."
Earlier this year, Apple launched its own Mac operating system upgrade in the form of Mountain Lion. OS X 10.8 comes preinstalled on all new Macs, while existing Mac users can upgrade via the Mac App Store.
Apple sold 3 million upgrades to Mountain Lion in its first four days of availability in July. In September, the company revealed that total upgrades had reached 7 million in less than two months.
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41 Comments
Probably includes the copies Microsoft 'purchased' for all of their staff.
yeah the sales are up because they are requiring it to be loaded on new systems. Unlike in the past when people could refuse the window 7. Just recently new computer at my work was coming with window 7 since the PC guys will no longer load XP. If we could still get XP we would not have moved to 7 that is for sure.
GUI looks interesting and has lots of potential - Microsofts default icons and colors are dreadful thou. Imagine it black glass and translucent. Would look way sleeker. Thats just appearance thou - will have to actually play with it to see how intuitive it is. People dont like change, so i imagine there will be complaints. However, with the emerging tablet market - they did pick a good time for a paradigm shift with their OS design.
So MSFT wants mindshare credit for presales this quarter, while booking revenues next quarter. What a brilliant way to double-count sales for maximum traction. Apple should similarly estimate all the iPhones it will sell in the winter quarter and chat about them in the fall quarter where it isn't selling any many, so we can perpetually talk about what Apple is and will be selling, rather than talking about how it isn't selling the new phone before it's available in the market, and how the old phone isn't selling as well at the end of its life span.
I read Apple are buying $100K worth just to give financial and moral support to Microsoft. ;)