Sales figures indicate that there has been virtually no demand from PC manufacturers, retailers and consumers for Windows XP N, the version of Windows XP that does not include multimedia functionality provided by Windows Media Player technologies: | • | XP N sales represent 0.005 percent (1/20,000th of one percent) of overall XP sales in Europe. | | • | No PC manufacturers have ordered or preinstalled Windows XP N on PCs. | | • | Only 1,787 copies of Windows XP N have been sold to retailers and distributors in Europe. | | • | The number of copies actually purchased by consumers is not tracked; many may still be sitting on store shelves. The French retailer FNAC, the single largest retailer to order XP N representing 46% of the orders, has stated that it sees no consumer demand for Windows XP N. | | • | By comparison, 35.5 million copies of the fully functional version of Windows XP were sold in Europe during the same nine-month period. |
No demand by PC manufacturers Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) stated clearly that they were not interested in installing and selling computers with a less than fully function version of Windows XP: | • | “I cannot foresee circumstances under which OEMs would choose to market PCs using a version of Windows without Windows Media Player,” said Carl Everett, former senior vice president of Dell Computer Corporation's Personal Systems Group. | | • | “It would not make business sense to market a PC on the basis that it did not include Windows Media Player,” said Rod Keller, former executive vice president, Toshiba America Information Systems’ Computer Systems Group. |
Number of media players installed increases The demand for enhanced multimedia functionality has actually led computer manufacturers to steadily increase the number of media players they pre-install on personal computers shipped in Europe: | • | In 2004, PC manufacturers preinstalled an average of 1.4 media players in addition to Windows Media Player on PCs sold in Europe. | | • | In 2006, that number had more than doubled – PC manufacturers now preinstall an average of 3.2 media players in addition to Windows Media Player on PCs sold in Europe. | | • | Fully functional versions of all third-party media players available on the market today are readily available for consumers to download for free. |
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