14 DAY TRIAL // We’re just a few days away from the public launch of the new OS and, in a totally surprising way, Microsoft officials refuse to make any Windows 8 sales predictions.
While it’s hard to figure out whether Microsoft is feeling that the appocalypse is nigh, some suggest that the Redmond-based technology company is worried that Windows 8 may not impress as much as they had hoped to.
All Microsoft employees refused to comment during a conference call on Thursday on the way Windows 8 is going to perform after its public launch, ReadWriteWeb writes.
While this could be a hint that Microsoft is currently pondering a more reticent approach on new products, no Redmondian actually explained why so much secrecy.
CFO Peter Klein, however, was the only one who agreed to say a few words, literally, about the upcoming Windows 8 OS. “We’ll see how it goes,” he said.
Curiously, Microsoft relied on a very different marketing strategy until now and even CEO Steve Ballmer himself spilled the beans a few times. For example, he revealed in early September that Microsoft expects Windows 8 to powerfully tackle the PC market and sell millions of units straight from this year.
“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,” he said in an interview.
Vice President Keith Lorizio was even more optimistic and said recently that his company expects to see no more, no less than 400 million Windows 8 devices on the market by July 1.