Dell admits Windows 8 sales "have been modest"

Dell’s vice president of personal computing Sam Burd has just admitted in an interview with the Guardian that Windows 8 and Windows RT sales “have been modest,” claiming that Dell has sold merely “hundreds of thousands” of their two Windows 8-based tablet computers. Poor sales of Windows 8 devices have contributed to Dell’s falling PC revenues, which have shrunk by 9% from February to May, with income also falling by a whopping 65% to just $224 million.

Burd blames the company’s poor sales of Windows 8 devices in part on large business customers, which have been traditionally slow to switch over to new operating systems. Despite Burd blaming the poor reception of Windows 8 for causing most businesses to (so far) avoid upgrading, he’s still holding out hope that things could change:

But tablets really need Windows 8 to sell well. Still, it is encouraging to see some businesses deploying Windows 8 and tablets. It’s going to take some time, and the jury is still out.

On the upside, Microsoft has been hard at work attempting to rework Windows 8 to appeal more to consumers. Microsoft’s forthcoming update to Windows 8, dubbed Windows 8.1, reworks key aspects of the operating system from the Start Screen to the “classic” desktop UI in an effort to be more user friendly, customizable, and familiar for Windows 7 users. Windows 8.1 is expected to ship later this year.