Re: Analyst: $120 for Windows 7 'Way Too Much'
- From: El Castor <No_One@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:24:43 -0700
On 27 Jun 2009 18:21:06 GMT, awouk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (arthur wouk)
wrote:
June 25, 2009
Analyst: $120 for Windows 7 'Way Too Much'
By GREGG KEIZER of Computerworld, IDG
Microsoft's pricing of Windows 7 threatens to derail its efforts to move
users off the aging Windows XP and make them forget the bad taste of Vista,
a retail research analyst said today.
"I'm very disappointed in the upgrade pricing," said Stephen Baker, an
analyst with the NPD Group. "I would have much rather seen Microsoft come
out aggressive, and wipe the world clean of all the Vista problems."
Earlier today, Microsoft unveiled list prices for Windows 7, which put
the lowest-priced upgrade -- an edition of Windows 7 Home Premium -- at
$119.99, a price cut of less than 8% from Vista's comparable version.
"That $120 is a pretty big nut, especially when you can buy a new PC for
around $300," said Baker, who's dubious about Microsoft's upgrade pricing.
Earlier on Thursday, Baker took Microsoft to task over pricing in a post to
the NPD company blog, calling $120 "way too much for the software" and
adding that Microsoft could hamper migration to the new OS. "It is in
Microsoft's best interests to erase all vestiges of Vista from consumers'
homes, and by making the upgrade expensive, and a bit painful, Microsoft is
creating a large disincentive for consumers to move to a far superior
platform with a better user experience," Baker said.
He also slammed Microsoft for not providing a multi-license offer for
upgrading all of a family's PCs. "In a world, at least in the U.S., where
most homes are moving into a multiple PC environment, it would enhance the
consumer home experience if they could upgrade all their home PCs at a
single low price with a single boxed purchase," Baker said.
Baker compared Microsoft's pricing and lack of a "family pack" to Apple's
aggressive moves at the beginning of the month when it announced that Mac
OS X 10.6, the performance and stability upgrade known as "Snow Leopard,"
would be priced at just $29 for a single-user license, $49 for a
five-license pack. Apple traditionally charges $129 for an operating system
upgrade.
"Apple's Snow Leopard pricing model is much more appropriate to driving
adoption and raising customer satisfaction levels," argued Baker. "This is
a direction I would have much preferred to see Microsoft head."
Microsoft's response, when asked if it was planning a family-pack for
Windows 7, was noncommittal. "We expect to have other great offers in the
future as we lead up to and beyond general availability," a spokeswoman
said via instant messaging. "[But] we have nothing to announce at this
time."
On the bright side, said Baker, Microsoft has so far managed the rollout of
Windows 7 "pretty darn well," especially when compared to the disaster of
Vista, which launched in January 2007, one of the worst-possible months to
introduce an operating system at retail.
"There's plenty of time between now and October for people to buy PCs, and
get free upgrades," he said, referring to the Windows 7 Upgrade Option
Program, which Microsoft also announced today. "And they've dramatically
reduced prices of some upgrades with the $50 offer. That's pretty slick,
and a great way to build up buzz."
Starting Friday, Microsoft and a limited number of U.S. retailers --
including Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, Office Depot, Quill.com and Microsoft's
own online store -- will take pre-orders for a $49.99 upgrade to
Windows 7 Home Premium and a $99.99 upgrade to Windows 7 Professional.
Microsoft's covered both the holiday and back-to-school season with Windows
7, said Baker, even though the OS won't be shipping in time for the latter.
"They would have had to have it out now, not in October, to make
back-to-school," said Baker. Instead, back-to-school PC sales will continue
as usual -- the Oct. 22 launch is much too late to entice students and
parents to delay a summer or early fall purchase -- and most will be
eligible for the free upgrade from Vista.
"Overall, there's more positive here than negative," said Baker, who in his
blog gave Microsoft's Windows 7 effort thus far an "A+" grade.
But there's still room for improvement. "I don't think they'll extend [the
pre-order discount] now. They'll let it run its course and see what
happens." But the $50 pre-sale price, which Baker applauded, shows that
there's some flexibility in the Microsoft's pricing for Windows 7. "It
clearly says that they're hedging their bets a little."
Later, as the Oct. 22 launch approaches, Baker said he wouldn't be
surprised if Microsoft didn't return to that discount well.
Copyright 2009 IDG. All Rights Reserved.
If you had bothered to read the article, you would know that Amazon is
currently taking pre-orders of Home Premium upgrades for $49.99, and
free shipping. Won't last long, so get in the order now.
.
- Prev by Date: Re: Alec Baldwin: Don't Take The Bait
- Next by Date: The Best News of the week <video>
- Previous by thread: Re: the netflix challenge met
- Next by thread: Re: Analyst: $120 for Windows 7 'Way Too Much'
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
