14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 8 was officially launched in October 2012 and, even if more than five months have passed since its debut, the operating system still fails to excite.
Analyst Kash Ragan said in a report published by Bank of America that Windows 8 is yet to make a difference on the collapsing PC market, so Microsoft’s rating has been downgraded from “Buy” to “Neutral.”
“We were hoping that MSFT would make a bold foray with Win 8 into smartphones and tablets. Conventional product cycle wisdom dictates that the stock should peak before a Win launch (it hit $31.45 [€24.21] in Sept ‘12 before Win 8), but we remained optimistic because the limited availability of touch-based devices impaired an objective assessment of Win 8,” he said, according to Benzinga.
“Now, six months post launch, despite more available touch-based devices, Win 8 lacks momentum, challenging our optimism.”
Information remains scarce on Windows 8 sales performance, but figures released by market researcher Net Applications for the month of March reveal that Microsoft’s new OS is currently installed on only 3.17 percent of computers worldwide.