US retailers gear up for Vista launch

RETAILER SHELVES are being emptied of current stock in preparation for Vista's launch next Tuesday morning.

At local Best Buy stores in the San Francisco bay area, desktop systems are hard to find, and notebooks are already an extremely limited selection.

Stores including Best Buy and CompUSA are preparing for the launch in various ways. Both retailers are betting that the release of Windows Vista will help extend a strong holiday sales season for computers and accessories.

A few larger retailers are planning launches normally reserved for must-have electronics such as new video-game consoles.

CompUSA will open its doors at 230 stores shortly before midnight for the January 30th launch and start selling the first Vista-equipped desktop and notebook computers promptly at midnight. Best Buy plans to do the same thing at about 15 of its stores around the US. Both chains are promising deals on PCs and notebooks to create opening-night fever. Obsevers expect large sales from both retail giants on their websites and in stores on launch day.

Most major retailers are spending large amounts of time and money training their sales people about the features of Windows Vista as well as how to convince a customer to fork over large amounts of money.

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium will cost $159 for an upgrade, and $239 for a full retail version. The retailers are more likely to find a better source of income in their service departments from customers that qualified for a free copy of Vista that purchased a new PC since mid-October. µ