The first Windows 8 sales estimates are not at all encouraging for Microsoft

Nov 19, 2012 23:31 GMT  ·  By
Windows 7 was a much more successful product in its first months on the market
   Windows 7 was a much more successful product in its first months on the market

Microsoft is already disappointed with Windows 8 sales, sources familiar with the matter hint, and it’s all because of the great success recorded by Windows 7 after its debut.

NPD Group Vice President Stephen Baker told AllThingsD that Windows 8 was a bit of a failure because of Windows 7’s impressive success, as everybody had pretty high expectations given the strong launch of the previous Windows iteration.

“I would say that Win 8 has had a faster ramp than Win 7 since launch, but Win 7 had a much stronger launch,” Baker told AllThingsD.

“When Win 7 was released the retail channel was fairly clean with few Vista systems remaining. This year, there was a lot of older inventory that needed to sell through before Win 8 product could really start to sell. That is slowly fixing itself as Win 8 keeps growing each week. But it started off with a much weaker share of volume than Win 7 did.”

Microsoft is yet to release some official Windows 8 sales figures, but CEO Steve Ballmer previously said the company managed to sell 4 million units in just one weekend. It remains to be seen whether the revival of the PC market can bring a boost in Windows’ sales too.