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29 March 2024

Microsoft to slash Vista rates by 47%

Published
By Shuchita Kapur

(GETTY IMAGES)   

 

Microsoft will cut prices on its Windows Vista operating system by up to 47 per cent this month across the globe, said the business group leader for Microsoft Gulf.


Prices will be reduced on Windows Vista Home Basic SP1, Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 and Windows Vista Ultimate SP1, according to Wilson Xavier. “We will start reducing the prices with the release of SP1 worldwide and the same goes for the Gulf region.
 

“The reduction in prices is not across the entire range of products. It’s only on fully packed versions, the FPP. These products go through the retailers and benefit the end-consumer. We want to target a specific section of the software market and this time it’s with the retail standalone product,” Xavier told Emirates Business.

However, retailers in town were unaware of any price reduction when Emirates Business spoke to them.


Shyam, category head of IT at Sharaf DG, said: “We have not been informed of any price reductions, but we will definitely follow if Microsoft Gulf’s office informs and instructs us to do so.”

It is being reported that the price cut is a tactic to push up sales of Vista’s latest version and discourage people from using pirated copies, but Xavier denied any such strategic thinking behind the move


“The price cuts did not happen because we wanted to push sales, but having said that nothing happens in isolation. We have been trying different tactics for different markets in the past year, so this can be called a continuous process. There have been promotions in the past and are happening as we speak.


“For example, we had a lot of good deals on Amazon. It is very important to be flexible in the market and create your demand and growth,” he said. “It is too early to predict what impact the price cuts will have on our sales, but we do realise that there is a large consumer space for our product and we want to give ourselves the right growth momentum.”