Cute anime girls driving sales of Windows 8 in Japan

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On Oct 29, Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said that since its release last Friday, Windows 8 has been selling at a higher rate than Windows 7, the best-selling version of Windows to date.

Despite confusion over alleged magic touch screen-imbuing capabilities, Windows 8 seems to be doing well in Japan as well — so well, in fact, that limited-quantity DSP editions of the operating system, which feature two unofficial Windows 8-themed “moe” mascots, are already beginning to sell out, proving once again that the Japanese will buy anything with a cute anime girl on it (not that there was a lack evidence).

Rather than adding new features to the operating system, DSP, short for Japanese Delivery Service Partner, edition is a Japan-exclusive Windows 8 Pro 64bit launch bundle that comes in two different character versions: Yuu Madobe and Ai Madobe.

The last name Madobe means “by the window,” and the names Yuu and Ai are a play on the English “you” and “I.” The girls are sisters, with Ai (on the left) the eldest and Yuu (on the right) the youngest.

Both versions include custom theme pack wallpaper, sounds using the respective character’s “voice,” and a Microsoft Wedge touch mouse.

The bundles are being sold in limited quantities at select electronics stores in major cities across Japan and cost 18,000 yen.

Special regional editions, exclusive to Tokyo’s Akihabara district and Osaka’s Nihonbashi district, are also being sold in even more limited quantities and come with special gold (for Akihabara) or leopard print (for Nihonbashi) packaging, as well as a few bonus goodies featuring Yu and Ai.

ITmedia reports that the Akihabara edition sold out by the end of the weekend but the Nihonbashi edition can still be found at some stores. The not-so-limited limited edition should be much easier to find, though a meager stock and marked-up prices on Amazon Japan suggest they won’t be around for much longer.

Source: ITmedia, Akiba PC Hotline!