Microsoft Has Sold More Than 200 Million Windows 8 Licenses
Microsoft’s executive vice president Tami Reller announced today that the company has sold more than 200 million Windows 8 licenses.
TechCrunch confirmed the data point with Microsoft. The company provided greater detail on the figure, stating that it does not “include volume license sales to enterprise,” while it does take into account upgrades to Windows 8 along with normal inclusion on new personal computers.
Microsoft has been incredibly tight-lipped about Windows 8 sales in recent months, providing essentially no guidance since disclosing 100 million copies sold in May of 2013. Windows 8.x, both Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, have enjoyed the regular momentum of the PC market as sustenance to their sales figures.
The last sales milestone, 100 million, was disclosed on May 7, 2013. So in 282 days, Microsoft moved more than 100 million more copies of the operating system. That works out to more than 350,000 licenses sold per day.
Microsoft also disclosed that in January of 2013, Windows 8 had sold 60 million copies.
Aggregate market share for Windows 8.x has been somewhat stagnant of late, as users shift from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. With the Windows 8.1 Update 1 on the horizon, Microsoft may choose to scoot users more quickly from the original Windows 8 to the newer code to prevent a trifurcation of its traditional operating system base.
Is 200 million a strong number? The pace of Windows 8 sales is lower than in previous periods. Between November 27, 2012, and January 8, 2013, Microsoft moved 20 million copies of Windows 8, or more than 450,000 per day. But that was during the time in which Windows 8 upgrades were discounted.
I think that the 200 million figure doesn’t change the market narrative except that it shows that if Microsoft is able to better convert its extant Windows 8 install base to Windows Store customers, it has a potentially massive user base on its hands.
IMAGE BY FLICKR USER DELL INC. UNDER CC BY 2.0 LICENSE (IMAGE HAS BEEN CROPPED)
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