Firm sales numbers for Microsoft Corp’s (MSFT.O) Windows 8 and its new Surface tablet will not be available for three months, but it may be clear long before then if it has a hit on its hands.
“We can definitely gauge it by chatter,” said Emily Chan, an analyst at Bernstein Research. “There is a slight learning curve, so I don’t think we will see that big pop that iPad saw.”
Microsoft is desperate for the new-look, touch-friendly Windows 8 to grip customers’ imaginations, as it looks to regain ground lost to Apple Inc and Google Inc in mobile computing and shake up the moribund PC market.
Perhaps more important is its new own-brand tablet called the Surface, available only through its own stores and website, which will challenge Apple’s iPad head on.
