Often companies will claim a "
sellout" in order to hype incredible demand for its product. However, these claims are pointless without any firm numbers -- after all, there's a big difference between moving 100 and 100,000 units. Now we're getting word from Japan that the heavily discounted Windows 7 upgrades that
went up for pre-order on Friday are sold-out. While no numbers are given, the 17 retailers involved in the pre-order sales, who presumably have no vested interest in trying to inflate perceptions on behalf of Microsoft, report sales as "considerable" and taking only 1.5 days (of the 10 days planned) to burn though the alloted inventory. A quick check on Amazon US and Canada shows the same pre-order prices we saw Friday. Still, it might be wise to take notice of the "while supplies last" disclaimer if you haven't already.
Update:
Engadget Japanese tells us that the 30,000 copies were sold according to Microsoft.
posted Jun 29th 2009 3:07AM
OH NO!
Oh Yeah !!!!
*** cue Kool-aid guy bursting through the wall ***
Yeah, I should get on ordering mine. But hopefully Microsoft will be smart and not artificially limit this special sale price, since these are freaking preorders anyway.
@iofthestorm
Of course it's an artificial supply, it's licenses to software. But I'm betting MS set a goal of having maybe.. a couple hundred thousand preorders worldwide to bolster its worldwide launch numbers. Maybe the preorders hop up into the millions.
What wouldn't be smart for Microsoft would be for them to sell their main source of revenue at half price.
@ Makavre
+ 1 Internets for you my friend.
@Makavre
I L'edMFAO. FUNNIEST COMMENT SO FAR.
I dont understand how a "pre-order" sells out. (Just stamp out some more!)
Wouldn't anyone that interested in Windows 7 already have a copy? You know, a copy that doesn't expire until, what, March?
... so I don't quite get the point of having to be first in line for something that's already available.
But I'm sure someone will set me straight posthaste if there's something I'm missing here. Perhaps has to do with the Japanese language support.
This is a release copy. The release will be even faster because of no debug code, as well.
And since the majority of people using Windows 7 would like to keep it uncrippled, I think getting it at retail for $50 is a pretty big occasion and something that a lot of people would like to take advantage.
$50 now, instead of $100 later. You can't run the RC forever.
First in line for something that's already available?! Did you see the crowds for the 3GS' launch?
Ahh, I'm either going to be very high ranked, or very low ranked for this one...
@ Mr. 14
I thought it was funny, +1
@Mr. 14
hahahahahaha.
Your so funny hahaha
-not-
I bet it will sell out in the USA too. Since it's basically an artificial shortage in order to build hype for the OS.
It's a limited time special on the price, not the OS.
Oh, that's definitely true - it's a marketing stunt. However, it's a pretty good idea and I don't see anything wrong with it since cheap pre-order prices are quite normal and it is not unusual for there to be limited numbers of licenses available in a software special offer.
Personally, I am intending to buy a license for Window 7 Professional so I would get one if they offer it at a price lower than the OEM version will likely cost in Europe.
I don't really think there's anything wrong with it.
I've actually already pre-ordered 3 copies.
They sell a download version, no box... just key... there is limit on that.
Already got three copies myself. Basically for the full regular price of one copy. Nice.
The pre-orders will sell out in Europe too...oh wait...what was that about the EU?
Glad I got my 4 copies of Win7 right away from Amazon. Can't wait!
The rebirth of Windows?
While Amazon US and Canada show preorder prices, it still isn't available in the UK by the looks of it. Is there a UK availability date on this - even if it is the discounted full version and not the upgrade one?
UK release, 15th July
WiNdOwS 7 fTw!1!
I never thought simple text could ever hurt my eyes...
...I was wrong.
Having a working caps lock FTW?
@richb93
Caps lock would have turned that in to "wInDoWs 7 FtW!1!"
@Galactor963
You're such a tool.
This doesn't surprise me at all.
Welcome back, Windows!
Wow Ricker, I usually don't comment on the anti-Microsoft bias this site is claimed to have, but wow. You don't have to explain to us how sell-outs work, nor do you need to question the "considerable" amount of units sold by putting quotes around the word. That post seemed like it was dripping with bitterness.
Please, please try to at least sound unbiased towards Microsoft, 'cause believe it or not, there's a lot of people who read your blog who actually like Windows. And if you don't get those Windows fans to read your blog, then you don't get all those clicks on your page, which means you don't get as much ad money, which means you might lose your job, which would really suck right now.
Translation: I see bias against my beloved Microsoft where none exists. For reasons unappreciated by the rest of the world I think it is important to defend a faceless company despite there being nothing to defend it against.
Seriously, where was the bias in that article? Take a deep breath and chill out.
There seemed to be a bias to me as well
Engadget must fix up the comments system, so that we do not have to click on the timestamp to get higest ranked. The comments are the only real reason for me reading engadget daily, fix it they were fine before but they suck now. I as of yet can't find a good clean tech blog to replace engadget but anyopne want to recommend one?
Please help me out here guys, I can't seem to recall correctly.... I was just wondering how many seconds it took for mac Osx Snow leopard to sell-out??? Am kinda like an Apple enthusiast, so bear with me...
Quality over quantity any day of the week.
Yeah, how's that 9% market share working out for you guys?
See, I can make sarcastic asshole comments too.
@K
I knew there was a reason the Zunes are better than the iPods!
About 6-seconds.
Yes, my answer is about as dumb as your question. Honestly, what is it about this web site that makes it attract half-wits (yes, I include myself in that)?
i like the colors of engadget
Of course this was going to happen. In Japan you have to wait for weeks everything if you don't have bought it by the first couple hours it's available.
Everything sells out, and you make a pre-order offer for that day's pizzas, they will sell out.
Trojan horse! Windows 7 is MS's Trojan Horse into Japan! Now, they will some how make all of the Japanese purchase Xbox 360.
The ad says that each person can buy 3 copies of each edition, for a total of 6 copies a person. With the price guaranteed to go up after the pre-orders are sold out, how could they not sell out in 3 days?
I'll just get my copy from my university for $14.99! :D
I'll just get my copy for free from my university. MSDN FTW!
I was thinking about that, but with Vista we had to wait until December (11 months) before we were able to buy ours, and I'll be out of school by then.
Sort off off-topic but still very related. Is it possible to pre order Windows 7 on the Amazon US website but ship it internationally? I'm in Hong Kong btw.
Lots of people have asked this and apparently you need a US shipping address. Perhaps if you use a service like vPost it would work but it might want to match a credit-card to the shipping address, which wouldn't work.
Well I've had a friend order it for me in the US and he'll ship it over to me here in the UK when he gets it, but from the calculations I've not really saved that much.
$49.99 in the US compared to £49.99 IS a big difference ($82.38 today)
But after transferring $49.99 to his account the exchange made it £31appx (so far a saving of £18) but shipping and POSSIBLE duty will probably eat that £18 pretty quickly.
Tes, why did you want the US version? UK preorder is later this summer and you get the full version.
It's Rubberduckzilla!
If they want me to buy windows 7 they should provide a skin that makes it look and run like XP, except with all the performance enhancements of Windows 7.
Because that Fisher-Price blue of XP is soooo smooth!
Oh yeah, I'd so have that over Aero(!)
I'm pretty sure you can. You could do it in Vista so they'll most likely carry over this theme. Aside from that you can use Win2000 if you prefer the aged out dated look =/
I love Aero on Win7 so easy and quick!
I, for one, will be glad to see the back of XP and I certainly don't want to be reminded of it.
I agree. XP is a horror that needs to be retired.
Eh, I was a fan of the Luna Theme too. I don't think it would work well with the Windows 7 interface though. While I had Vista running on one of my machines, I played around with this:
http://shifty102.deviantart.com/art/XP-s-Luna-theme-for-Vista-58027692
If you have a Windows 7 box you could experiment and see if it runs.
You can get themes to make Vista to look like XP but you can't get the XP taskbar and start menu back. You have to revert all the way to Windows 98 classic style to get a functional start menu back and the themes won't work in that mode.
I haven't used a Microsoft designed theme since Windows 95. They are all terrible. If I do get Windows 7 the first thing I am going to do is find a program to enable user themes and design a theme with a 15 pixel high taskbar. The freakin 7 taskbar takes up 1/8th of the screen.
Iridium:
There's a built-in setting to make the task bar icons smaller in Windows 7.
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/11/30/how-to-make-the-windows-7-superbar-taskbar-icons-smaller-small-size/
ME WANTS.
Well Im glad I got mine out of the way then through BestBuy.
i got a total of 6 copies, 3 for me, 1 for my parents, and 2 for my parents-in-law.
I have a feeling that the U.S. is not going to be far behind, I expect it to sell out by end-of-week.
I don't care about why Microsoft is doing the whole "limited supply" thing; all I care about is that I was able to buy a new OS for $50.
the limited supply is because this is a discounted price, it has nothing to do with an inability to manufacture more copies.
Sweet, Vista SP3 is selling fast. Well at least until people begin to use it.
You know...people have been using it for a while. they release the beta to anyone who wanted it. Those people include pretty much every respected tech blog and none of them have any complaints so far. In fact, glowing praise is all I've seen. But hay...reality would spoil your rubbish post...continue.
Well, no one in their right mind should waste their money on Vista now with Windows 7 almost here, even accounting for a period of time to ensure that it is really "production ready". If you are still using XP then I would certainly advise sticking with it for the next few months.
@Kelmon
If you buy Vista now, you get upgraded to 7 when it's out at no extra cost. No specific reason not to buy if you ultimately want 7, except for the upgrade discount offer.
How's the Snow Leopard Service Pack 1 working out for you?
@inept
Who the hell wants to go through the hassle of upgrading only to go through that again in a couple of months time? As I said, there is no point in upgrading to Vista now with Window 7 so close to a final release.
30,000 copies? Why that's already more than the number of Macs in the world. 7 is already destroying snow kitty.
zomg ur so funny!
Shhhhhh. Be respectful.
Windows 7 will have absolutely no impact on Snow Leopard. The only thing that I see it doing is stemming the flow of Windows users defecting to the Mac. But clearly you are not going to see people switching back to Windows for it (it's good but not that good) and high sales of Windows 7 is not going to impact your experience of a Macintosh product.
The idea that "Product A will destroy Product B" is just nonsense unless it is going to have a material impact on the other platform. However, I'm sure it gives the supporters something to cheer about for reasons that I cannot fathom.
Not in Japan, but I sure got mine in yesterday.
Woo Hoo!
Tens of millions of PCs in Japan and they were able to sell 30,000 copies of Windows 7 discounted 50%? Does anyone really think this is something to brag about?