Richard Doherty, an independent consumer-electronics analyst who visited Japanese stores in October, traced his initials in the dust on a box containing Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox video-game machine.
When he returned 45 days later, the box and his initials were still there. "It was sad," Seaford, New York-based Doherty said.
Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and Chairman Bill Gates have unveiled tablet computers, watches, key chains and refrigerator magnets that remotely access data in the last four months. Investors are concerned those products also may sit unsold on store shelves.
The new products may never boost sales the way Windows and Office programs did, investors and analysts said. Microsoft should be pickier, and use some of its more than $40 billion in cash and securities to pay a dividend after the stock fell 22 percent last year, investors said.
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