Microsoft has had a very busy week, and a very busy year. They have been working very hard and in the last few day have launched major updates to all their products. On the 26th Microsoft released its brand new Windows 8 operating system and their Surface tablet. Only 3 days later they launched Windows Phone 8 which is a full revamp of their mobile operating system.
Even though there are very clear indications that there is a lot of enthusiasm for these new products we still have no firm data on what the sales numbers are. And according to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer we’ll still have to wait a while longer.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Ballmer talks about all of these new launches, the partnerships Microsoft is forming and where the company is going next. When asked about Windows 8 and Surface sales numbers the CEO wouldn’t give out any specific information. Instead he said this:
Numerically there"s not really much that"s interesting to report. If you were to call the retailers, they would say, "Hey, off to a very good start." We"re out of stock a lot of places on touch [screen] machines.
This probably indicates that sales numbers are strong or at least on par with moderate expectations but that they haven’t broken any record. Of course, what certain people fail to realize is that this is exactly the way every new OS sells. Usually off to a decent start and then, depending on a lot of factors, increasing over time. And all indications seem to be that Windows 8 and Surface sales are doing better than expected.
We’ll have to wait and see what the official sales numbers will be when they come out at the end of this fiscal quarter.
Source: The Wall Street Journal | Image via MSN