Microsoft Has Sold 100 Million Windows 8 Licenses
Six months on, Microsoft has revealed the number of Windows 8 licenses sold to OEMs and through upgrades.
Back in January, Microsoft revealed that the company had sold 60 million Windows 8 licenses, which was in line with Windows' 7's progress two months after it launched in October of 2009. Four months on, the company has given us a little update on Windows 8's progress.
Speaking in a Q&A about the first six months of Windows 8, Microsoft's CFO and Chief Marketing Office, Tami Reller, revealed that the company has reached the 100 million licenses sold mark.
"We recently surpassed the 100 million licenses sold mark for Windows 8. This number includes Windows licenses that ship on a new tablet or PC, as well as upgrades to Windows 8," Reller said. "This is up from the 60 million license number we provided in January. We’ve also seen the number of certified devices for Windows 8 and Window RT grow to 2,400 devices, and we’re seeing more and more touch devices in the mix."
Hinting that Microsoft is aware that Windows 8 hasn't quite taken off yet, Reller said Redmond is happy with the OS's progress since it's launch late last year.
"[...] Windows 8 is a big, ambitious change," she said. "While we realize that change takes time, we feel good about the progress since launch, including what we’ve been able to accomplish with the ecosystem and customer reaction to the new PCs and tablets that are available now or will soon come to market."
Microsoft launched Windows 8 in October of 2012. The software launch coincided with the release of its Surface RT tablet, which runs Windows RT. The Surface Pro, which runs a full version of Windows 8, didn't launch until February in the United States. Microsoft is expected to release an update for Windows 8, codenamed Windows Blue, later this year.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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ingtar33 and how many are sitting in warehouses unsold by the OEMs? how many have been uninstalled and replaced with win7?Reply
just because MS sold 100m licenses to the OEMs doesn't mean it's actually being used in end products, there still needs to be consumers to buy and use it. -
Branden number of windows 8 licenses sold is a very different thing than number of windows 8 activations.Reply
i suspect that a good chunk of laptops pre-installed with 8 are downgraded to 7, and much of the rest would have been 7 if the customer had that option. -
esrever Tom has something against windows 8 or something. Windows 8 is selling just as fast as windows 7 was in the same time period. I don't know where you got the idea that they were worried that windows 8 hasn't taken off yet. This is just biased.Reply -
hakesterman You guys are missing the biggest point of all, their counting all the PC's they are selling with it pre installed. That's the only way they can sell it, nobody is buying it to replace Windows 7. And they are forcing you to buy it cause they have completely removed windows 7 off the store shelves.Reply -
irish_adam @esreverReply
I think most tech enthusiasts hate on windows 8. Cant see how they are counting windows RT though, i mean surely that should be classed as a different OS -
internetlad inb4 (and after, apparently) flood of HERP DERP WIN8 BAD posts.Reply
Seriously, set photos to open in the photo viewer instead of the app, as well as your choice of video player for videos, and once you get past the start menu it's the same damn experience.
I've been using it for months and I honestly don't know why everybody is whining and moaning about how different and hard windows 8 is. -
Stimpack Don't try to say anything good about Windows 8 or you'll be swarmed by biased idiots. It has its faults, as everything does, but it's also better than 7 in a lot of ways. Outside of that start menu stuff, I've not run into a single issue with Windows 8. Hell, and I've even gotten used to not having the start menu, honestly.Reply -
Stimpack Reply10772923 said:@esrever
I think most tech enthusiasts hate on windows 8. Cant see how they are counting windows RT though, i mean surely that should be classed as a different OS
I think it's the exact opposite. I think most people hating on Windows 8 are people who have little understanding of their computer. -
memadmax How many of those "licenses sold" are on computers that are just sitting on store shelves? I have yet to see a copy of win8 running "in the wild" yet, besides my own test computer that was running it....Reply