Win8 prospects are not good

Computer store news: In October 2012, the Windows 8 (hereinafter referred to as Win8) system that users have been expecting is finally coming out. For the traditional PC industry that has been plagued by tablets and the Microsoft [microblogging] that is being swept away by iOS and Android, Win8 is a reversal of Wintel (the business alliance between Microsoft and Intel [microblogging]). The straw of life.

However, as far as it seems, Win8 has not fulfilled its mission. This is known as “the PC, tablet, and mobile phone triad” system has not even supported its official version. A little big thing is not good.

On January 25, 2013, Microsoft released the latest financial report since the listing of Win8. The financial report shows that Microsoft’s net profit for the second fiscal quarter of fiscal 2013 was $6.377 billion, down 3.7% from the same period last year. The release of Win8 did not bring Microsoft the expected turnaround.

A major blow to the user.

In the face of the bleak shipments of Win8 released in the past three months, it seems that Microsoft's PC makers seem to be a bit ugly on their faces. The PC makers who wanted to rely on Win8 to regain lost ground, even after the Christmas promotion, even shy about the PC shipments.

According to data released by market research firm NPD recently, sales of Windows PC products worldwide have declined by 21% in the month after Win8 started selling.

Although Dell [microblogging], Toshiba [microblogging] and Sony three PC manufacturers are still insisting on Win8, and said that they are very optimistic about the future of Win8 PC products, but for the bleak business situation, the three manufacturers Three mouthfuls.

In the Chinese market, ASUS Chief Financial Officer Zhang Weiming said at the beginning of 2013: “At present, the market demand for Windows 8 is not very satisfactory. "Although no sales data was given, he said that the sales of touch-screen notebooks using Windows 8 systems are currently not ideal. In addition, there have been reports recently that Acer refused to provide and disclose relevant information when asked about the number of Acer vendors' Windows 8 devices sold. This or the continuation also suggests that the sales of Windows 8 should not be too high.

For the status quo of the partner's unwillingness to sell, Microsoft replied: "You didn't create enough attractive Win8 touch-screen devices, which led to the bleak shipment of PCs during the Christmas period." , Win8 PC is not selling well, it is your fault! In order to better control the shipment and market response of Win8 PC, Microsoft executives have repeatedly given the hardware design of PC manufacturers "clear guidance", requiring manufacturers to give Higher configuration hardware to demonstrate the power of the new system. However, for these “guidances”, PC manufacturers have ignorantly chosen to ignore them after weighing their own interests. This kind of ignorance of Microsoft executives is so angry!

For Microsoft's anger, manufacturers are also unceremoniously fighting back: "If you follow Microsoft's hardware requirements, the result is a lot of expensive products that no one wants or no one understands." & rdquo;

In fact, the most have the right to judge Win8 is good or bad, or the majority of users.

Compared to the previous versions of Windows, the biggest highlight of Win8 is the dynamic tile interface. However, this feature has become the target of criticism from users. A former person in charge of a mobile phone channel from a website told China Economic Weekly: “The familiar start interface is gone. Instead, it looks like a cool dynamic tile. I used a 20-year Windows system, and now I will not use it. In addition, this system has also added a flying mode, I really do not understand, what flight mode does the laptop need? After all, this is a mobile phone system, and I have not seen where it crosses the border. Although it is mainly a touch operation, but now Win8's book with the touch function is so expensive that it does not reflect its advantages. ”

The focus of Tucao is not only the bad user experience of new products, but also the price of “getting dying”.

At the beginning of Win8's launch, in order to attract users, Microsoft launched an upgrade offer, users can upgrade to Win8 Pro version for only $39.99 (China's 248 yuan). Now, this offer is over.

In the face of the company's tight revenues, Microsoft announced that since February 1, the upgrade price of Win8 in China has been adjusted from 248 yuan to 1998 yuan, an increase of 705%. Prior to this, Microsoft has significantly increased the price of pre-installed versions of Win8 OEMs in China. For this, the PC manufacturers are also complaining. Many users and merchants said: "The high price of Win8 is really unmatched, we can't afford it." ”

Where is Win8 wrong?

The emergence of Win8 should have greatly boosted the growth of PC sales, but the result is counterproductive. Where is the problem with Win8?

Feixiang.com CEO Xiang Ligang [microblogging] told China Economic Weekly: “First of all, the upgrade cost is too high. It used to be 248 yuan upgrade, and now it rises to 1998 yuan, regardless of the price increase. For what purpose, this approach will make users feel resentful. In addition, the Win8 series products are overpriced, which is one of the reasons. The Surface Pro tablet without a keyboard starts at $899 (or $100 if you need a keyboard). This pricing is too expensive, I might as well buy an iPad or a touch screen Ultrabook! "If the problem of excessive price can be solved by price adjustment, then the deep reason in the industrial structure is a big problem that Microsoft is difficult to solve."

After the success of iOS and Android, Microsoft's launch of Win8 is clearly seeing the development trend of this industry: "The platform is the best in the world", with an independently developed terminal system, is Wang Dao!

However, developers have not sold Microsoft faces. In the survey of developers by IDC, a well-known market research organization, 33% of respondents indicated that they intend to write programs for Win8 tablets; 21% of respondents expressed their willingness to develop for Windows Phone [microblogging]7 software. In contrast, 85% of developers said they are very interested in developing apps for the iPhone, and 83% of developers are willing to develop apps for the iPad. Android phones and Android tablets have attracted 76% and 66% of developer interest, respectively. IDC said in the survey: According to past experience, if the proportion of developers who are willing to develop applications for mobile platforms fails to exceed 50%, the mobile platform will lose its appeal to developers and will eventually decline.

This result also explains the reason why Microsoft software is scarce at present. A developer of casual game developer Popcap Games, a developer of the famous game “Plants vs. Zombies”, told China Economic Weekly at a mobile internet conference: “They Microsoft) will not provide us with actual money incentives. We will develop software for them and we will not make any money. ”

How Microsoft can save itself

How can we reverse the trend and hand over a relatively satisfactory answer in the new fiscal year? For Microsoft, this means not only more profits, It is also related to their survival in the field of mobile Internet.

In order to improve Win8 sales and profits in the short term, Microsoft is taking a series of remedies. However, these measures do not seem to be wise. The first is the post-holiday price increase mentioned above. The upgrade cost of nearly 2,000 yuan will not only scare off potential users who are interested in upgrading the system, but also reduce the popularity of Windows fans on Win8. In addition to price increases, in order to force users to use Win8 system, Microsoft began to block Win7 in certain channels, and no longer allowed to sell the serial number of online Win7. This means that if the enterprise user does not want to spend time on the computer to install the authentication one by one, they must purchase the online serial number of Win8.

For a series of Microsoft "Remediation Measures", well-known communication observer Wang Weiquan told China Economic Weekly: "At present, Microsoft's all these moves are & lsquo; faint & rsquo;! Microsoft's current problem lies in the user experience of the product. If you want to let everyone buy it, you must do a Win8 product. In the user experience, you must do your homework. Although Win8 is the main touch experience, but the corresponding PC products use a small number of touch screens, but the price of the products using the touch screen will be high, consumers are relatively sensitive to the price, so when the product is not easy to use and attract attention It is recommended that Microsoft should still be small profits but quick turnover. & rdquo;

Although the current situation of Win8 is not optimistic, but for the future of Win8, there are still observers optimistic. Ni Guangnan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a researcher at the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in an interview with China Economic Weekly: "Win8 should have a better development, although it is now in a relatively difficult period, but the concept of cross-border Win8 alone comes. Speaking, it is at the forefront of the times. The convergence of terminals is a major trend in the development of mobile Internet. Google [microblogging] Android and Apple iOS are also likely to be this direction in the future. Therefore, the future of Win8 has yet to be verified. ”