WINning XPerience

Even before Windows XP hit the Indian market, customers were anxiously

waiting for the new product. And at the launch event held simultaneously in

three cities in India, Microsoft unveiled the results of an IDC survey.

According to this survey, 82 percent of business users were eagerly awaiting the

launch of Windows XP, and 20 percent of these were expected to adopt Windows XP

immediately.

So it was not much of a surprise that India was selected as one of the venues

for the global launch of what was touted as Microsoft´s first .Net product–Windows

XP. The software supports nine Indian languages–Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit,

Konkani, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, and Punjabi.

CREATING WAVES



Microsoft kicked off the consumer launch with its partners like Compaq,

Intel, AMD, NIIT, Wipro, HCL and Sony. Organized at high footfall venues like

Ansal´s Plaza in New Delhi and Nehru Center in Mumbai, the event created quite

a flutter. At IT.com in Bangalore, Microsoft’s stall had over one lakh

visitors, thanks to the XP hype.

The three events put together got over a lakh and a half customer footfalls.

These were followed by events at Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata. In all 15

launch events were executed, within a fortnight after the launch on October 25,

2001.

Microsoft also undertook a lot of retail activity for XP. It distributed a

lakh and half demo CDs at 70 locations across the country.

CHANNEL GEARED UP



The channel launch of XP took place in September 2001 with training

workshops organized for 3,000 partners in seven cities across the country. At

these workshops partners got a chance to have a hands-on XPerience on the new

OS.

Says Karthik Padmanabhan, Marketing Manager, Microsoft India, "The

launch was rated among the top five Indian launches of the year by a leading

business magazine." Others in the league were the premier of Lagaan and the

Fiat Palio launch.

Sales of Windows XP through the channel have shown some remarkable results

for Microsoft in India. Comparing the sales from the first quarter after the

launch of Windows 2000 with Windows XP, Padmanabhan said, "XP has outsold

Windows 2000 by two times."

BUILDING MOMENTUM



Microsoft had built momentum for the launch much before the actual event. It

put up a special launch web site two months before the launch and was also

successful in creating a community around XP. Community members could download

the XP logo from the web site, which on reproduction at the retail outlets won

them a free evaluation copy of Windows XP. Microsoft distributed over 1,500

copies of the 30-day trial version as part of the promotion leading to the

launch.

It also undertook focussed corporate shows called the XPremier shows with 450

corporate houses across the country, to keep the excitement high for its

enterprise accounts. 150 of these shows happened within the first month after

the launch.