Windows 8 channel inventory woes have ended - Context

Windows 10 poised for success as testing gets under way

High levels of Windows 8 inventory have started to decline in western Europe after the channel made a big effort to get rid of the build-up during Q4, analyst Context has said.

A number of price promotions initiated by the channel have helped shift the excess Windows 8 machines, which in turn will boost adoption of its successor Windows 10.

"In Q4 we saw a really strong focus by the channel, and the whole industry, on stock clearance," said senior Context analyst Marie-Christine Pygott. "We had a very strong build-up of excess stock in the first half of the year and that was hanging around. So in Q4, the whole industry focused on getting rid of it. At the same time, in terms of PCs [sold in] to the channel, that suffered because vendors were cautious to push more products into the channel."

Now that Windows 8 stock has returned to "acceptable" levels, the channel can focus its efforts on Windows 10, Pygott added.

Context data shows that Windows 10 had six per cent market share in western Europe in December, up from two per cent in October and five per cent in November.

Pygott added that "downgradable" versions of Windows 10 - which allow users to downgrade it to Windows 7 while they complete testing - are doing much better than "pure" Windows 10 devices.

"Testing in the commercial space takes a long time," she said. "A lot more depends on [making sure it is perfect] than for a private user. It takes months and months.

"The users are a bit freer and they don't have to transition [to Windows 10] straight away. In the commercial space it takes a lot of testing and time. This happened with previous downgrade versions too; it is completely in line with expectations."