Windows 10 Price? Much the same as Windows 8
So, it seems like Windows 10 will cost more or less the same as every version of Windows prior. Hopefully this helps shut up some of those in the speculative camp that Microsoft must be planning a bait and switch because they want their money.
On the flipside, I see this as a fairly silly move. I was expecting Windows 10 to have a retail price tag. And I was expecting that price tag to be higher than it probably should be. But I wasn't expecting them to stick to the same old pricing. Especially not after giving away free upgrades to most consumers. All of the effort around getting it onto existing PC's for free means that the perceived value of the OS will go down. I fully expect sales of retail copies to drop as custom PC builders take offense to being singled out.
The only reasons I can see for this move are firstly that it is political and the board won't approve a price drop, and to assist in making OEMs feel a little less bad about the license fees on the machines that they will have license fees on. I'm still surprised that there was seemingly no effort to bring any sort of price drop up front.
That being said, I still expect that the price to go down over time. People don't see the value in paying for an operating system any more, and if this truly sticks around as the last version of Windows, it'll be a harder sell down to road to get someone to fork out $100+ for an OS that, in name, has been around years. High end gaming rigs generally cost a lot to build and the OS is just a minor cost by comparison, but for a more average spec'd machine, a Windows license can cost up to as much as 30% of the total price, if not more if you're building a budget PC.
Combine that with the fact that retail sales have always been one of the smallest sources of revenues for the company and you have a model that isn't sustainable. Especially if you really want to get Windows 10 onto as many devices as possible.
Just an optimistic guess, but I think Windows retail could go as low as $50 in the next 5 years for the standard SKU. OEM prices will need to come down as well for the reasons above. But I think that will also happen. Microsoft kind of shot themselves in the foot here. Using the same OS on mobile as on laptops and desktops was a bit of a gamble. Especially as the laptop and desktop lose relevance in computing sales to tablets and smartphones. In those markets Android is a huge competitor, with a price tag of effectively free, OEMs will pressure for a cheaper Windows 10 across the board.
On the flipside, I see this as a fairly silly move. I was expecting Windows 10 to have a retail price tag. And I was expecting that price tag to be higher than it probably should be. But I wasn't expecting them to stick to the same old pricing. Especially not after giving away free upgrades to most consumers. All of the effort around getting it onto existing PC's for free means that the perceived value of the OS will go down. I fully expect sales of retail copies to drop as custom PC builders take offense to being singled out.
The only reasons I can see for this move are firstly that it is political and the board won't approve a price drop, and to assist in making OEMs feel a little less bad about the license fees on the machines that they will have license fees on. I'm still surprised that there was seemingly no effort to bring any sort of price drop up front.
That being said, I still expect that the price to go down over time. People don't see the value in paying for an operating system any more, and if this truly sticks around as the last version of Windows, it'll be a harder sell down to road to get someone to fork out $100+ for an OS that, in name, has been around years. High end gaming rigs generally cost a lot to build and the OS is just a minor cost by comparison, but for a more average spec'd machine, a Windows license can cost up to as much as 30% of the total price, if not more if you're building a budget PC.
Combine that with the fact that retail sales have always been one of the smallest sources of revenues for the company and you have a model that isn't sustainable. Especially if you really want to get Windows 10 onto as many devices as possible.
Just an optimistic guess, but I think Windows retail could go as low as $50 in the next 5 years for the standard SKU. OEM prices will need to come down as well for the reasons above. But I think that will also happen. Microsoft kind of shot themselves in the foot here. Using the same OS on mobile as on laptops and desktops was a bit of a gamble. Especially as the laptop and desktop lose relevance in computing sales to tablets and smartphones. In those markets Android is a huge competitor, with a price tag of effectively free, OEMs will pressure for a cheaper Windows 10 across the board.
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