By Claire Reilly
While the launch of Windows 8 last year was the shot in the arm the retail industry was hoping would revitalise the computing category, many in the industry have bemoaned the slow take-up of the new technology and poorer than expected sales of new hardware.
The managing director of Toshiba Australia Mark Whittard has offered his thoughts on why Windows 8 has been slow to get off the ground and why suppliers did not immediately come to market with a raft of new touch-enabled Windows 8 products.
Speaking at the launch of the new Kira premium Ultrabook range in Sydney yesterday — a range that utilises the touch capabilities of Windows 8 — Whittard said there had been confusion in the marketplace surrounding the new operating system.
“I think one of the challenges is there was a lot of confusion with Windows 8,” said Whittard. “My personal view is that [Microsoft] confused the market with a couple of different flavours. First there were two flavours, so why wouldn’t you just go for the entry flavour? And then you found out that you had you to buy a different suite of apps.
“There was also that cost differential [for touch capabilities]. People had been used to buying $399, $499, $599 laptops, and suddenly they’re $699, $799. You would only bring in the premium products initially and over time, like all new technology, it will start to come down to those price points.
“It takes time for these technologies to…gather momentum. Even Microsoft themselves are still trying to explain what Windows 8 delivers and [they are] putting more emphasis on the touch capabilities of it. It’s like all major new technology, it just takes time to get that momentum, that rolling thunder effect.”
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Another reason for the slow adoption of the new technology cited by Whittard was the increased discounting that took place in electrical stores as suppliers and retailers alike tried to clear older models.
“We had to get out of our Windows 7 stock, all vendors, all retailers,” he said. “And there was a significant amount in the channel, across B2B and B2C, so that had to sell through first. And because that had to sell through first, they were even going for even cheaper than the traditional RRPs.
"So the gap wasn’t just the $100 or $200 from non-touch to touch. It was $400. And the customer was saying, ‘Well hang on a sec, that’s starting to get unpalatable, that price differential, just for that touch capability and I’m not sure about this Windows 8 thing’.
“And when you’ve got product going out there at $299, clearance, 30 per cent off, buy one get one free, you stimulate the market in another segment.”
Despite the slow start, Whittard said he expected the notebook market to consist of 50 per cent touch-enabled products this year, and that Toshiba was “expecting very rapid take up” of the new technology.