



I. Windows 8 Upgrade Sales: Very Strong




Windows 8 boxes
[Image Source: The Verge]


II. The Road Ahead





Ballmer Slate
[Image Source: Bloomberg]




Source: Microsoft

Comments     Threshold


Does anyone else notice the careful wording?
By 91TTZ on 11/28/2012 4:42:58 PM , Rating: 4
If you notice, they say that it's "moved more licenses" than previous versions of Windows. This is a big difference compared to having better sales, aka making more money. The truth is that Windows 8 is selling for much, much less money than Windows 7.

Take a look at the Windows 7 Professional upgrade price:

Now look at the Windows 8 Professional upgrade price:

Windows 8 is moving more licenses because it's selling for less than half the price of Windows 7. If it were a stronger product it would command a higher price. If Toyota came out with a notoriously unliked model of the Corolla and then was forced to slash the price to $7,000 you'd see similar headlines- "This is the best selling Corolla ever". But it would be misleading since their profit margins would be horrible or even negative, and after the launch they'd probably fire the guy in charge of the division (cough, Sinofsky, cough)

And in another article I was reading, it sounds like the Microsoft App Store has had a very lukewarm reception. Microsoft didn't even want to hint at any sales figures. People just aren't buying many apps from Microsoft's app store since they have other options to get their applications (direct from the developers).

When you consider Microsoft's R&D expenses it took to develop Windows 8 and then subtract that from the average selling price for a copy of Windows 8, you're going to find that Microsoft is not making nearly the profit off Windows 8 as they did off Windows 7.






