By K R Nambiar
The market operating prices (MOP) of Microsoft’s OEM products have been affected over the past few months. The reasons range from the availability of counterfeit software, the depreciation of the rupee, and the practice of some smaller partners dumping products at less than their pick-up costs.
With the MOP being substantially lower than the transfer rates from distributors, many partners are suspecting massive counterfeiting.
“The price of Microsoft OEM products has certainly been unstable since the past few weeks. We have been buying only from authorized distributors, but have seen quotes at 20 percent less, and though the suppliers claim that the material is genuine software, we have not done business because we fear the product might not be genuine,” informed Madhusudan Gupta, Director, Radha Electronics, Kochi.
P K Harikrishnan, director, Alltime Power Systems, Kochi, confirmed that the MOP of Microsoft OEM products have suffered more than the MOP of other products. “Recently I managed to buy Microsoft Windows Vista Home Edition at approximately Rs 1,000 less than the distributor’s best offer from another Microsoft authorized partner from Chennai. There is no doubt that the product is genuine,” he said. “Yet we cannot rule out the possibility of counterfeit software being available in the market.”
Microsoft India’s Director for original software initiative, Vipul Sant, however denied any spike in the counterfeit software in the country over the last quarter. “Over the last three months we have not had any evidence of a substantial increase in the activity of counterfeit software in any specific market in the country. Prices do fluctuate in the market for a number of reasons, and without knowing further details it is difficult for us to comment upon. As a company we are focused on ensuring that consumers get original Microsoft products, and we work with the channel to ensure that the consumers are protected from using pirated or counterfeit products.”
Still, not everyone believes that counterfeit software is available in the market. “We had recently discussed this with Microsoft officials in Mumbai, and we have reasons to believe that cheaper products are being available through select partners largely due to inefficiencies in the way Microsoft manages the channels. The counterfeit product theory is something that Microsoft’s sales team is spreading to ensure that more partners buy from authorized distributors,” alleged P N Prasad, Vice President of CONFED-ITA. “Microsoft claims that certain partners (formerly called aggregators) are mixing counterfeit products with genuine products. We checked a partner who was accused by Microsoft of doing this in Chennai, but he proved to be clean.”
However, a partner in Bangalore confirmed that there have been at least two instances where known resellers are alleged to have sold counterfeit products along with genuine products, effectively bringing down the prices. “To the best of our knowledge, these partners who have been caught are sorting it out with the Microsoft legal team.”
Sant warned, “Partners should be suspicious if a bulk discount is being given by an unauthorized source because he could be mixing the counterfeit with the genuine. We also advise our partners to buy only from authorized sources.”
Microsoft associate distributors, Maxtone Electronics and CyberStar, said that they were not aware of any massive counterfeiting happening. “Though I have heard speculations, we are yet to see such products,” declared Champakraj Gujjar, managing director of Maxtone. Added Raj Rathi, director, CyberStar, “While I agree that there is some pressure on the MOP of Microsoft products, that is probably because some of the partners are still sitting on old stock which was available to them at better prices.”
“We have been cooperating with Microsoft through ACKMADA, our association, and certainly the sales of Microsoft products in Kerala have gone up,” Harikrishnan stated. “Since there is the danger of an innocent dealer buying counterfeit Microsoft products unknowingly, we are advising all partners to buy only from known sources.”
Sant had these parting words of advice: “Given that software counterfeiting exists, be wary of surprisingly low prices. Partners could access the links www.howtotell.com or www.microsoft.com\piracy to learn about the differences between genuine and counterfeit products, and to look at samples online.” |