14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 8 sales are apparently going very well if we are to trust Microsoft’s very own statements, but the company’s new OS doesn’t seem to boost sales of the collapsing hardware market.
Market researcher NPD said that Windows 8 sales are “almost non-existent,” but admitted that sales of Microsoft’s first tablet ever, the Surface, aren’t included in their data.
According to Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD, Windows 8 tablet sales account for 1 percent of sales of all Windows 8 devices available on the market right now.
And still, Windows 8 cannot be blamed for the poor performance of the market industry, the analyst believes.
“After just four weeks on the market, it’s still early to place blame on Windows 8 for the ongoing weakness in the PC market. We still have the whole holiday selling season ahead of us, but clearly Windows 8 did not prove to be the impetus for a sales turnaround some had hoped for,” he told TechCrunch.
On the other hand, previous rumors have pointed out that Steve Ballmer thinks otherwise, as he believes that the PC industry is at fault for Windows 8’s poor performance in the first weeks of availability.
Two weeks ago, it has emerged that Microsoft wasn’t quite satisfied with the way Windows 8 performed on the market and sources familiar with the matter have hinted that Steve Ballmer and other Microsoft executives had suggested that the lack of devices running their new OS hurt sales of the product.
Of course, Microsoft is yet to publicly admit this, but Tami Reller, head of the Windows business division, said in a tech conference this week that things aren’t exactly great when it comes to OEMs and Windows 8.
“If you go into retail today, you will see some great touch devices, whether it's touch laptops, or whether it's a tablet or two with Windows 8 or Windows RT. It's not enough in our opinion. I mean, we think the pipeline is great, and we're excited to see that pipeline come into retail,” Reller said.