NewEgg executive: Windows 8 sales to stay slow until Q2 2013
updated 01:54 pm EST, Mon November 19, 2012
Microsoft OS launch not the explosion expected by retailer
Sales of Windows 8 are slower than expected, according to a member of management at NewEgg. A senior executive at the online retailer has called the operating system's sales figures not the "explosion" the company had expected, but while it is selling slowly, the rate of sales is gradually and steadily improving.
Speaking to Read Write, senior vice president of product management of NewEgg in North America, Merle McIntosh, suggested that sales of Windows 8 will not "take off" until Q2 of 2013. When dividing the sales into two categories, sales of Windows 8 hardware is starting to increase, particularly for notebooks, while software sales are expected to be slow "until the pricing normalizes sometime next year."
It was also revealed that in NewEgg's offices at least, Windows 8 sales would be high, but there was a difference in opinion in terms of when the sales explosion would take place. "Even within our own building, there were some people that thought that this was going to be the next coming of God," said McIntosh, continuing "other people were saying, this will be the next coming of God, but not until next year sometime."
NewEgg is apparently not planning to sell Windows 8 at a discount through the holiday season, though it will be discounting more generalized hardware, such as HDTVs and Android tablets.
Late last month, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer confirmed a total of four million upgrades for Windows 8 sold in the first few days after its launch. Despite the claim, polls of users have found that interest in Windows 8 is weak, with significant numbers of people needing to upgrade looking towards a Mac or iPad instead of a PC.
