Ken’s Take: It’s almost incomprehensible that a company with Microsoft’s tech savvy and heft could have blown it as badly as they did with Vista. For their sake, Windows 7 had better be an acclaimed product. You can only shoot and miss so many times.
The intro pricing expense makes sense except the $10 discount is simply leaving money on the table. Do they really think that it will motivate any incremental purchases?
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Excerpted from WSJ, Microsoft Plans Lure for Windows 7, June 26, 2009
The product
Windows 7 is a critical test of whether Microsoft can polish the reputation of its operating system after Windows Vista suffered early technical problems.
While Windows remains by far the most dominant software for running PCs, Vista’s problems were exploited relentlessly by Apple in marketing campaigns for Macintosh computers. Macs have gained market share steadily over the past few years.
So far, early reviews of test versions of Windows 7 have been favorable.
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The pricing
Microsoft announced a plan to encourage pc users to move to a much anticipated new version of its operating system, Windows 7 … scheduled for release in late October.
Until July 11, consumers can preorder an upgrade copy of Windows 7 Home Premium through retailers for $49.99.
Most new PCs coming out starting in October will have Windows 7 preinstalled.
Any consumers who buy new PCs running its current Windows Vista operating system from now until Jan. 31 will receive free upgrades to Windows 7.
For consumers who bought PCs prior to the free upgrade program, Microsoft said it will charge $119.99 for Windows 7 Home Premium — expected to be the most popular version for consumers — instead of the $129.99 upgrade price for the comparable version of Windows Vista.
Full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124593802040653741.html#mod=testMod
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The Homa Files 
July 11, 2009 at 3:26 am |
The article said “As part of the plan, the Redmond, Wash., company said the main consumer version of the software would cost $10 less than past versions of Windows. The new software is scheduled for release in late October.”
People have less money to spend these days than in the past primarily due to rising oil prices. Perhaps the previous price point was set incorrectly. Microsoft has a huge team of researchers that study price from every possible POV you can imagine.