Mintz reports, “By comparison, Windows XP, Vista’s predecessor, sold 17 million copies in the two months following its 2001 launch, Microsoft said.
“‘It’s a stronger than expected start,’ Bill Mannion, a director of product marketing for Windows, said in an interview,” Mintz reports. “But given that the personal computer market has nearly doubled since XP launched, Vista sales ‘probably should be more,’ said Michael Silver, vice president of research at Gartner, a technology research group.”
“The analyst said 51 million PCs were sold to consumers worldwide in 2002; this year, the research group predicts 96 million consumers will buy a computer,” Mintz reports. “Starting in late October, PC makers included coupons for free or low-cost Vista upgrades that could be used once the software became available at the end of January. Microsoft’s February sales total includes those promised upgrades, in addition to licenses ordered by PC makers to install on new computers, shrink-wrapped copies sold in retail stores and downloads from the Windows Marketplace Web store.”
Mintz reports, “‘That would say that those (Vista sales) numbers aren’t all that great if that includes all that backlog,’ said Silver.”
“Shipments of Vista to U.S. retailers in February lagged XP’s first-month shipments by about 56 percent, according to the NPD Group,” Mintz reports. “NPD analyst Chris Swenson said he thought Microsoft’s advertising strategy, which he said was light on TV commercials, was partly to blame for the drop in retail sales. Microsoft should have more TV ads selling Vista than Apple has criticizing Vista,’ he said.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “The Wzrd” for the heads up.]
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