CONTEXT: Business users shunning Windows 8

The adoption of Windows 8 by business users is lagging behind that of its predecessor, according to new figures from analyst house Context.

Contrary to figures released by the industry watcher shortly after the product's launch, its findings show that sales of Windows 8 PCs are not keeping pace with those of its predecessor at the same point during its sales cycle.

The company tracked sales of Windows 8 PCs through IT distributors in Western Europe, and compared them to similar figures from around the time of its predecessor's launch.

The figures revealed Windows 8 PCs accounted for around 55 per cent of Windows PC sales by the end of November.

During the same period following the release of Windows 7, the operating system achieved a market penetration rate of 58 per cent.

The figures also suggest business adoption of Windows 8 is slower than its predecessor, with the operating system accounting for just 8 per cent of all Windows OS business sales in November.

By contrast, at this point during its sales cycle, Windows 7 accounted for 31 per cent of Windows operating system sales to business users.

Jeremy Davies, chief executive and co-founder of Context, said Windows 8 had also failed to reignite PC market sales.

"We know that PC sales overall declined over the last few months and it looks like Windows 8 has so far not had the boosting effect that many in the business had been hoping for," he said.

The figures back the findings of fellow market watcher NPD Group in November who claimed, since the launch of the new operating system on 26 October, sales of Windows laptops were down 24 per cent on last year.