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Sales figures for boxed copies of windows Vista are significantly lagging behind those of the predecessing operating system. According to a report by market analysts, NPD, Vista units sold have declined 59.7 per cent compared with XP, during each products first six months on shelves. Revenue is also down by 41.5 per cent.
"It’s just not doing well," NPD analyst Chris Swenson said of Vista’s performance at retail stores, though he added that "most people get their operating system on new PCs, with only a minority of customers purchasing boxed copies."
Microsoft told tech site CNET "While we can’t comment on the findings of a report we haven’t seen, we continue to be on track in all segments we follow. As of this summer, more than 60 million licenses have been sold."
Microsoft has confirmed that more than 80 per cent of its Windows revenue is sourced form computer manufacturers who install the systems on their machines while boxed copies account for the remaining 20 per cent.
Sales figures are relative to the operating system PCs carry, so the figures demonstrate that those buying PCs currently aren’t ready to fork out extra until Vista has saturated the market. Microsoft predicted that it expected businesses to carry Vista at twice the pace that it took XP to capture the majority of the market, however the NPD figures suggest that things are not going to plan at present.
