Microsoft: 200 Million Windows 8 Licenses Sold to Date
The number of Microsoft (MSFT) Windows 8 licenses sold has doubled to 200 million in the seven-plus months since the vendor last spoke about it, but the pace of adoption still lags Windows 7. The gap is closing, however.
The number of Microsoft (MSFT) Windows 8 licenses sold has doubled to 200 million in the seven-plus months since the vendor last spoke about it, but the pace of adoption still lags Windows 7. The gap is closing, however.
Microsoft rarely drops a few words here and there about Windows 8 licenses, perhaps figuring the less said the less it calls attention to the operating system’s unpopularity, but the numbers may tell a different story now that more than a year has elapsed since it hit the market. When Microsoft Marketing EVP Tami Reller told attendees Feb. 13 at the Goldman Sachs Technology & Internet Conference the vendor now had reached some 200 million Windows 8 licenses, as reported by ZDNet and others, it couldn’t have been all that surprising.
After all, in May Microsoft said its count of Windows 8 licenses sold in the six months since its debut has reached 100 million, a 67 percent jump from where the figure stood in January—spanning licenses shipped with new tablets or PCs and upgrades. The vendor still isn’t saying who’s buying the licenses—it would be illuminating to know what enterprises and small businesses are doing—so there’s detail there left unsaid. Microsoft’s license count is confined to OEM sales and upgrades and doesn’t include additional copies in volume-licensing agreements.
By comparison, keeping in mind Windows 8 has been in circulation now for 15 months, Windows 7 hit the 100 million license mark six months after its debut date, and a year on the market had produced 240 million licenses. Also, Microsoft was far more forthcoming about Windows 7 license milestones, issuing running licensing totals in January 2011 at the 300 million mark, in July 2011 at the 400 million level and a year later at 630 million.
After the conference, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed Reller’s remarks to ZDNet, with the following: “Windows 8 has surpassed 200 million licenses sold, and we continue to see momentum. This number includes Windows licenses that ship on a new tablet or PC, as well as upgrades to Windows 8. The figure does not include volume license sales to enterprise.”
According to ZDNet, Reller didn’t mention the forthcoming Windows 8.1 in her remarks to the Goldman Sachs attendees.
