Microsoft has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses in the month since it launched, suggesting that the operating system is selling faster, and in larger numbers, than Windows 7.
Microsoft executive Tami Reller announced the milestone at the Credit Suisse 2012 Annual Technology Conference, and the company reiterated it Tuesday in a blog post that said, “Windows 8 is outpacing Windows 7 in terms of upgrades.”
This is the first sales figure Microsoft has shared since CEO Steve Ballmer said the company had gotten 4 million Windows 8 upgrades in four days, and it must be taken with a big spoonful of salt. Microsoft did not specify how Windows 8 devices are selling in comparison to past launch devices. Nor did it say whether Windows 8 is selling below expectations, as recent reports have suggested. The catch in all of this is that 40 million figure includes all of the licenses Microsoft has sold, including to manufacturers building Windows 8 hardware. That means many of those 40 million copies of Windows 8 haven’t actually made their way into consumers’ hands.
Microsoft also emphasized that its Windows Store is growing in conjunction with Windows 8 growth. A report from app analytics company Distimo suggests the same thing and notes that millions of people who have upgraded to Windows 8 are downloading Windows Store apps at a healthy rate. The top 300 apps in the Windows Store have an average of 200,000 downloads per day. The top 300 apps in the Mac App Store see around 80,000 daily downloads, the firm said.
The Windows Store had grown to 21,183 apps by Nov. 22, according to Distimo’s data. That puts the Windows Store at more than twice the size it was at launch on Oct. 26 and more robust than the Mac App Store, which has around 13,000 apps. Still, it’s significantly lower than the 600,000-plus apps available in the Apple App Store and Google Play. Since the Windows Store covers both desktop computers and tablets and the Windows Phone Store offers apps for smartphones, it’s somewhat difficult to compare the various available app stores across platforms.
Missing from Distimo’s report, however, is the total download rate for both stores. Distimo does mention that when it comes to paid apps, the Mac App Store is still performing much better than the Windows Store, with five times as many downloads. While Windows 8 users are downloading plenty of apps, they aren’t necessarily paying much, or anything, for them.
Microsoft’s Windows Store has significantly fewer paid apps than its competitors. Paid apps make up only 14 percent of the Windows Store, compared to the 35 percent in Google Play and 84 percent in Apple’s App Store. Microsoft did not specify how much revenue the Windows Store has made, but noted “a number of apps in the Windows Store have crossed the $25,000 revenue mark and the developer keeps 80 percent of the revenue they make off downloads for the life of their app.” Download rates of paid apps, however, are much lower than download rates of free apps.
More notable is that Windows 8 users are actually active on the Windows Store, which will likely convince developers who have been hesitant to build for the nascent platform.
Microsoft Says It Has Sold 40 Million Windows 8 Licenses
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Microsoft Says It Has Sold 40 Million Windows 8 Licenses
