Distributor suffers Vista stock shortage

After months of delays, Microsoft’s Vista operating system was finally made available to the Australian consumer market in January.

Antony Sheen, managing director of Altech told CRN the distributor suffered from a Vista supply shortage in the first month following the operating system’s launch.

“Currently stock levels are getting back to normal as Microsoft reacted quick and supplied additional quantities of Vista by air,” he said.

Sheen said the acceptance rate in Australia for Vista has been higher than in other countries around the world.

“I’m sure Microsoft did some good estimation work before Vista launched, but I believe the Australian market caught them by surprise, especially for the high-end versions of Vista Home Premium and Ultimate. However, even the other versions of Vista have been in strong demand,” he said.

Sheen said Altech did prepare for a strong initial uptake of Vista and ensured it had high stock levels in its warehouses.

“We were very smart to stock up on Vista [to the extent we did] as I know that many other distributors and resellers also suffered out of stock situations,” added Sheen. “I spoke to Microsoft representatives and they confirmed that sales of Vista were over their estimations and they were trying to rectify shortages promptly.”

Paul Randle, consumer audience marketing manager for Microsoft Australia, said: “We have been pleasantly surprised with the demand for Vista around the world and have been ecstatic by the uptake in Australia.”

Randle said there are no Vista stock level problems and it has the products to hand if demand outstrips expectations. However security issues concerning Vista could potentially put end-users off.