Is Microsoft about to chop the price of Windows 8.1 licence?
Inside sources say a big fat, yes.
The software giant is said to be about to cut the price of Windows 8.1 license by 70% from US$50 to just $15 on cheap tablets and notebooks, as take up continues to drag, say Microsoft sources.
“Manufacturers will be charged $US15 to license Windows 8.1 and preinstall it on devices that retail for less than $US250, instead of the usual fee of $US50,” reports Bloomberg.
The move is a bid by Redmond based giant to rev up manufacturer’s uptake of the touch based OS found on notebooks, hybrids and tablets from Sony, Samsung and Asus, the former, Sony, may be exiting the lagging PC market altogether.
Windows 8 tablets and notebooks are generally more expensive than Android-ran tablets, so this may be Microsoft latest attempt to entice the PC user, now drifting to Google, back into the fold with cheaper devices.
Windows 7 is still more popular more than 15 months after Windows 8 release, with brands like HP recently pushing PCs running the ageing OS, released in 2009.
W7 runs about 55% of desktop PCs globally, while Windows 8.1 accounts for just under 8%, according to Statscounter figures.
