Microsoft CEO expects to ship 90 million Windows Vista licenses this year
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has stated that he expects to sell 90 million Windows Vista licenses this year, dampened some overly optimistic sales projection made by some analysts.
The forecast came after Microsoft announced late last month that early sales of Windows Vista are outpacing those that XP experienced, putting it on the road to become the fastest-adopted version of Windows in the company’s history.
Ballmer also dampened outside expectations, especially from Wall Street, around Vista’s uptake.
“We have not seen any particular differences in uptake. I’m not arguing with the fact that it’s not fast. I’m just saying it’s not different. It’s about the speed of past releases, and what we would have anticipated,†Ballmer said.
With large businesses, the new OS needs to be thoroughly tested and validated against established applications before it is widely deployed.
Gartner analysts expect large businesses to delay widespread adoption of Vista until at least of middle of next year, about the time they are expected to begin a new replacement cycle. While the vast majority of consumers and SMBs are expected to adopt the new OS as they gradually replace existing machines during the next several years.
“Consumers and SMBs in mature markets would be hard-pressed to find a new PC with Windows XP,†said Annette Jump, research director for Gartner Dataquest’s Client Computing Markets Group. This will naturally speed Vista’s adoption among consumers and SMBs.
Vista adoption among large business is expected lag behind consumers and SMBs, Gartner said.
Meanwhile, Microsoft plans to spend $500 million in 20 countries to market Windows Vista.
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