Microsoft's Windows 7 enjoys a better first week than Vista.

In its first week on the market, Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system packed a mightier punch than its predecessor Vista.

Unit sales of Windows 7 were 234 percent higher than Vista during the first few days of release for both operating systems, according to The NPD Group.

Windows 7, which was released on October 22, also generated 82 percent more revenue than Vista's first few days on the market.

Windows 7's total revenue for the week of October 18-24, including presales, was impacted by early discounts on pre-sales and a lack of promotional activity for the Windows 7 Ultimate version, according to NPD.

"Microsoft's program of early low-cost pre-sales, high visibility marketing, and aggressive deals helped make the Windows 7 software launch successful," said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD, a Port Washington, N.Y.-based research firm.

"In a slow environment for packaged software Windows 7 brought a large number of customers into the software aisles."

Microsoft's success, however, did not translate to its PC partners. Although PC sales by companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo were up 49 percent in Windows 7's first week, compared to the year-ago quarter, and up 95 percent compared to the previous week, those numbers couldn't match PC growth during Vista's first week.

PC sales during the first week of Vista's launch increased 68 percent compared to the year-ago quarter and 170 percent compared to the preceding week, according to NPD.

"Vista had a slight advantage at launch, as January traditionally has a bigger sales footprint than October. The other hurdle Windows 7 faced was sales of PCs with older operating systems (XP and Vista) were high, making up 20 percent of sales during the Windows 7 launch, compared to just 6 percent of older operating sales during Vista's launch week," Baker said in a statement.

Two weeks earlier, Baker noted that retailers and PC makers had successfully sold off most inventory pre-loaded with Windows Vista to make way for Windows 7 machines.

"Last month I happened by a Best Buy store and there was not one single PC for sale with Vista on it. Lots of Windows 7 machines, however, all of which were marked 'not for sale until October 22,' Baker wrote in NPD's blog on October 22. "Someone did a great job in the supply chain making this happen. This will give Win 7 a tremendous boost out of the gate."

Glen Coffield, president of SmartGuys Computers, a system builder with five retail stores headquartered in Lake Mary, Florida, said Windows 7 has provided a much bigger sales kick than Vista. "We have certainly seen an uptick in business," he said.


See original article on CRN.com