14 DAY TRIAL // We’ve heard a lot of rumors claiming that Windows 8’s sales performance is disappointing everyone, including an NPD report which revealed that sales of PCs running Windows declined 21 percent in the four weeks ended November 17, 2012.
Wall Street-based firm Fitch Ratings claims that NPD’s report isn’t accurate and suggests that Windows 8’s sales have been seriously affected by a number of external factors, such as Hurricane Sandy and discounts on existing Windows 7 devices.
“The NPD Group data period actually starts five days before the launch of Windows 8 and includes one-off constraints, such as Hurricane Sandy and significant discounts on existing Windows 7 inventory, both of which reduced demand for PCs, particularly those with Windows 8,” Fitch Ratings said.
Microsoft said a couple of weeks ago that it had sold a total of 40 million Windows 8 copies in just one month on the market.
While the firm cannot confirm whether these stats are accurate or not, it did mention that Hurricane Sandy had affected sales of the new OS because consumers were no longer willing to spend money on purchasing new software.
“Retail consumer spending overall, particularly for discretionary items such as PCs, was materially affected for at least several days following the storm, which hit just three days after the introduction of Windows 8. Aggregate same-store sales growth of only 1.6% for 17 large retailers in November, nearly 52% below analyst growth expectations, shows the storm's effects continued through the month,” the firm said.
According to figures released by Net Applications for the month of November, Windows 8 had a market share of 1.09 percent, while Windows 7 remained the top choice for 44.71 percent of users.
Windows XP, the 11-year old operating system, dropped to 39.82 percent, as there’s less than 500 days until Microsoft officially stops providing support for this particular OS.