With Windows 8 approaching its first quarter on store shelves, several high-profile company executives involved in the hardware industry are discussing its sales performances.
The associate vice president of Acer’s business unit, Jerry Kao, in an interview with ITProPortal confirmed that Windows 8 sales leave a bit to be desired.
Jerry cites the launch date (October 26) as one of the reasons for this low uptake, saying that launch window is not in line with any retail cycle. He added that the holiday season or a back to school campaign would have been much better.
Don’t know about the holiday season, but the back to school bit makes some sense.
Going in the summer would definitely have bought Microsoft (and partners) a fair bit of time to not only fine tune their strategy, but also get products to the market for the all-important holiday season.
Besides, a certain company called Intel is also about to launch its new generation of desktop and mobile CPU in a few months’ time, and these little thing do play a part in those looking to upgrade their computers and laptops.
Getting back to Acer, Kao says that the reason his company is staying away from Windows RT is because of the baggage it brings —most users need to be educated on the features of this (familiar but different) operating system.
Furthermore, the lack of support for legacy apps also stirs up confusion among buyers.
These views echo that of Samsung, with the Korean giant recently backing out of the Windows RT market in the United States.
