[photopress:Timothy_Chen_Microsoft.jpg,full,alignright]Microsoft expects its China sales to rise more than 20% this year, boosted by new products and a national crackdown on software piracy. China has been clamping down on piracy over the last two years to the benefit of software makers such as Microsoft.
As part of the campaign, most of China’s top domestic PC sellers, including Lenovo and Founder, have pushed to boost their number of PCs sold with legal copies of Microsoft’s Windows operating systems already installed. Other major foreign players in the market, including global leaders Hewlett-Packard and Dell, are pushing similar policies in China.
Timothy Chen, chief executive of Microsoft’s Greater China region said only about 30% of Lenovo PCs now being sold will ultimately contain pirated Windows systems, down sharply from 90% last year. He said growth was also coming from new product sales, including the company’s newly introduced Vista operating system.
According to data tracking firm IDC, China is the world’s second-largest PC market by unit sales, with more than 20 million units shipped last year.
Microsoft has around 2,000 employees in China, and Timothy Chen said he expects that figure to increase 10% this year as the market continues to grow rapidly.
Source: CNNMoney.com