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How many pre-loaded Win 10 PCs did disties have 7 days after release?

Hint: The answer's in three figures. And it ain't very high

No PCs pre-loaded with Windows 10 made their way into distributors’ warehouses in the week before launch of the OS – but by golly, they did in seven days after the 'big event'.

Venerable number cruncher Context reckons a whopping 150 machines were in distribution a week after launch. The firm gets its data direct from European distributors, and found that a trickle of Windows 10 Home based notebooks did emerge.

“The number is still too small to translate into any noticeable market share, but is expected to pick up in the course of August and September as OEMs bring out more Windows 10 devices in time for the holiday season,” the firm told us.

The reason for the scarcity, it reiterated, was due to Microsoft’s offer of a free consumer upgrade, the late release of code to OEMs and too much inventory already sitting in the channel.

This is in stark contrast to the stock profile in the run-up to previous launches of Microsoft operating systems. Vista was pre-loaded into 38 per cent of Windows Home PC; Windows 7 made it onto 63 per cent of consumer machines held by distributors in 2009; and Windows 8 pre-installed PCs accounted for 61 per cent of stock held by disties.

Eric Cador, EMEA president at Lenovo, told us in an exclusive interview that the OS will help to drive sales of consumer devices, but he had some hopes for the business market.

Typically businesses adopt an OS at least 18 months after its launch but the exec said using the software across PCs, tabs and phones could be a pull. This, however, might be wishful thinking.

“Instead of having zero impact on the first 18 months, it will have some impact in the commercial segments of mid-market to enterprise,” he said. ®

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