Windows 8 hits 100 million sales, tweaks for mini-tablets in works

SEATTLE: Microsoft Corp
has sold 100 million Windows 8 licenses in the six months since launch,
roughly in line with the previous version, but wants to combat
sputtering interest in its flagship software with a substantial update
to make it easier to use, and compatible with smaller tablets.
Windows 8 is the first Microsoft
operating system primarily designed for touch commands, but it has
failed to capture consumers' imaginations or make a dent in a tablet
market dominated by Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics.
"Is
it perfect? No. Are there things we need to change? Absolutely. We are
being very real about what needs to change and changing it as
thoughtfully and quickly as we can", said Tami Reller,
co-head of Microsoft's Windows unit at the company's Redmond,
Washington headquarters last week, where she announced the latest
Windows sales figure, a number made public on Monday.
Microsoft
will be rolling out an update to Windows 8, provisionally code-named
'Windows Blue', by the end of this year, Reller said. Details of the
update will be released in the next few weeks.
Although
Microsoft has sold 100 million Windows 8 licenses since launch on
October 26, matching Windows 7 sales three years previously, it looks
unlikely that the new system will see progressively rising demand, as
Windows 7 did, hitting 240 million sales in its first year.
Microsoft's
last Windows 8 sales update was in early January, when it broke 60
million, suggesting only around 40 million license sales in the last
four months, well below Windows 7's average sales rate.
Windows
7 was helped by the fact that it replaced the generally unpopular
Windows Vista, whereas Windows 8 has confused many potential customers
with its new-look 'tile'-based start screen and the omission of the
traditional 'start' button.
"The learning curve is real, and we
need to address it," said Reller. "We're not sitting back and saying,
they will get used to it."
Reller did not say whether the 'Blue'
update would restore the start button, but she said Microsoft would pay
more attention to helping customers adapt.
"We've considered a
lot of different scenarios to help traditional PC users move forward as
well as making usability that much better on all devices," she said.
TOUCH LAPTOPS
Consumer
alienation, and the lack of affordable touch-laptops that can make full
use of Windows 8, has held back computer sales, according to industry
tracker IDC. PC sales had their sharpest drop on record in the first
three months of this year, plummeting 14 percent.
Reller hopes that new machines from firms including Lenovo, ASUS and Hewlett-Packard will change that this year.
"We
know customers like touch laptops, but they are also price sensitive,"
she said. "Our partners (hardware makers) have to bet on volume, so
that they get price breaks, and get that moving into the (retail)
channel."
Microsoft is also tweaking Windows 8 to make it
compatible with smaller seven and eight inch tablets, which would allow
hardware makers to compete in the fastest-growing segment of the tablet
market against Apple's iPad mini, Samsung's Galaxy Tab, Google Inc's Nexus 7 and Amazon.com Inc's Kindle Fire.
Reller declined to comment on whether Microsoft would make a smaller version of its own Surface tablet.
Microsoft
has not made much of an impression in the tablet market so far,
notching only 900,000 Surface sales in the first quarter, according to
IDC, compared with 19.5 million iPad sales and 8.8 million Samsung
tablet sales.
Overall, Reller hopes the 'Blue' update and a slew
of attractive touch-laptops will fire up interest in Windows machines
in all forms.
"I believe that touch will be mainstream in
consumer laptops," said Reller. "I think we'll be pleased with the
progress we've made by 'back to school' and by holiday (year end),
we'll be at this tipping point where we will say, 'Now I see it'."
Microsoft
shares closed at $33.75 on the Nasdaq, after hitting their highest
level since January 2008 earlier in the session, as the S&P 500
reached an all-time high. - Reuters