Microsoft to boost Windows 10 with ultra-cheap laptops, PCs

Satya Nadella-led Microsoft Corporation is looking to drive up volume of Windows 10 by offering PCs and laptops at ultra-cheap prices in India.

“We are now offering laptops at Rs 9,999 which is comparable to a budget segment smartphone,” Alvaro Celis, vice-president, global field sales OEM at Microsoft, told HT, adding that the offerings were in line with Microsoft’s target of having Windows 10 installed on one billion devices.

Celis also said that India was one of the most important markets for Windows 10 and other Microsoft products such as the Office suite. “We are currently working with over 20 partners to put Windows 10 on these low cost devices,” Celis said adding that the company was making profits via high volumes, low material cost and efficient supply and distribution channels.

“We choose our partners in a way so that they can match up to our expectations and deliver,” Celis said adding that Microsoft’s India partners currently consists of companies such as Acer, Dell, HP, Micromax, RDP, Notion Ink among others.

“We are seeing a lot of traction of these low cost products in the areas of education and first-time users in tier-3 and tier-4 towns of the country,” Priyadarshi Mohapatra, country general manager of consumer channel group, Microsoft India, said

“Windows 10 is our fastest growing operating system (OS) and we have a global install base of 350 million devices compared to over 270 million devices in March this year. The company has already released a free anniversary update for the OS,” Celis said.

According to Stat is ta, Windows 10 had a market-share of 23.5% in July 2016, second only to Windows 7, that was being used on 41% of all desktops worldwide. Windows 10 had a share of 5.4% in August 2015, a month after its launch.