14 DAY TRIAL // The Redmond-based technology company Microsoft thinks that partners could really take advantage of its recently-released products, as consumers are pretty interested in what the Surface RT and Windows 8 have to offer.
Microsoft’s execs said at Tech Data's TechSelect conference in Puerto Rico that partners working with its very own products could sell more than ever before, mostly because of this growing interest in its new products.
"It is literally the year for you to make money with Microsoft," Long Tran, Microsoft's director of technology strategy solutions for SMB, said according to CRN.
And it’s no wonder that Microsoft hopes to make the most of its new products. Preliminary figures have shown that both Windows 8 and the Surface tablet are selling like hot cakes all over the world.
A total of 4 million Windows 8 updates were sold in just one weekend after the official debut of the new operating system, said Steve Ballmer. That’s pretty encouraging, given the fact that Microsoft expects to sell millions of units by year-end, before eventually reaching record sales in 2013.
The Surface tablet is also enjoying a remarkable success, as the cheapest version, the one coming with 32 GB of storage space and without a Touch Cover, was sold out in less than 24 hours after Microsoft started the pre-order program. All the other models did the same thing in less than a week.
Although Windows 8 is optimized for the touch, Microsoft still bets heavily on the desktop market and expects its new operating system to fully tackle this industry segment in early 2013.
“There's going to be close to 400 million PCs sold in the next year, which makes it a big market. And whether it's 405 (million) or 395 (million), it's a big market, and Windows 8 will propel that volume,” Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer said in September.