Sales of Microsoft’s flagship Windows 8 operating system are reportedly hovering “well below” Redmond’s internal projections.
According to Paul Paul Thurott of Supersite for Windows, the revamped OS is indeed off to a relatively weak start.
Unsurprisingly, Microsoft isn’t attributing the anemic sales to anything OS related, but rather, blames PC manufacturers and their allegedly “lackluster” designs, as well as limited availability.
However, as Thurott notes, the initial lack of Windows 8 sales is likely related to a number of issues, including a stuttering economy, a wide range of disparate OS device types and the touch-centric nature of the OS.
“The net effect of all this stuff, I think, contributes to a wait-and-see approach with Windows 8,” he explained. “And that is exactly the opposite of what Microsoft and even the broader industry should want at this time.”
In related news, a number of Windows 8 smartphones manufactured by Nokia and HTC are reportedly spontaneously rebooting and freezing.
According to PC World, some users of the HTC 8X handset have reported anywhere from 1-8 random reboots a day after purchasing their phones. Interestingly, the issue appears to have resolved itself for a number of users after they uninstalled a Facebook app.
“This is sloppy QA and I really hope things are fixed or it is going back,” an HTC owner wrote on Microsoft’s Windows Phone community forum. “I really wanted to believe in Windows Phone this time but if this isn’t fixed fast then I’ll be back to Android.”
Meanwhile, the Nokia 720 seems plagued by random freezing in addition to the occasional reboot.
“I got my 920 on launch day from ATT. Within 10 minutes of leaving the store the phone locked up completely. Had to do a hard reset. The whole night and part of the next day I had nothing but problems with freezes and locking up, apps not loading and other problems,” one Nokia 720 owner wrote on the company’s support forum.
“Brought it back to ATT and exchanged. The second phone also started freezing up and the start button wouldn’t work half the time. Took the second phone back as well and exchanged for my third, which luckily I haven’t had a single issue with yet.”
