Despite heavy marketing and lucrative rebates being offered by retailers, early results indicate that sales of Windows XP are trailing Windows 98 but running ahead of Windows ME. Fewer than 300,000 boxed copies of the new operating system were sold in the first several days of its availability, according to preliminary figures from NPD Intelect, which has polled roughly 80 percent of its retailers and mail-order clients about XP. Although some poll respondents indicated that demand was "healthy," NPD asserts that the final tally of first-week sales will likely be 20 percent to 25 percent lower than what Microsoft saw with Windows 98.
"Unless there are earth-shattering sales (from the other 20 percent of retailers), it looks like XP will be lower than Windows 98," said Steve Koenig, senior analyst at NPD. But, he added, "given the economic situation and the twitchiness of consumer confidence, I would say that the launch was a success."
|