Microsoft has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses so far

[xxMATTGxx]

Microsoft revealed today that the company has sold 40 million licences of Windows 8 to date. Tami Reller, the Windows Chief Marketing and Financial Officer, revealed the figure during a speech at Credit Suisse 2012 Annual Technology Conference. The sales numbers come shortly after Microsoft revealed it had sold four million upgrade copies of Windows 8 in the first few days of sales in October. Microsoft claims "Windows 8 is outpacing Windows 7 in terms of upgrades."

Recent reports have suggested that Windows 8 PC sales are "well below Microsoft's internal projections," but these latest figures appear to suggest that Windows 8 licences are fairing ok. Promotions on Windows 8 upgrade copies appear to be helping along early sales. Microsoft did not discuss Microsoft's Windows RT sales or any figures for the company's recently launched Surface RT tablet.

Source: http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/27/3698784/windows-8-sales-40-million-licences


Pretty good going so far then.

[Nige]

I'd rather stick to Apple, no offence to any Windows Users.

[Mr-Trainor]

Windows 7 is good enough for me :P, at least for now. I'd be more interested in seeing some sales figures for the Surface.

[Samantha]

Yeah Windows 7 is fine for me, I've only just got used to that haha.

[scottish]

When windows 7 came out the price to upgrade (lowest version upgrade, not full retail) was $160

Windows 8 was what $39?

so not really surprising tbh :P

[RyRy]

When windows 7 came out the price to upgrade (lowest version upgrade, not full retail) was $160

Windows 8 was what $39?

so not really surprising tbh :P

This.

If it were the same price as a Win 7 upgrade, I think their profit margins would be much different. Windows 7 will be like Windows XP in that it'll still be found around the place even after Windows 8 & Windows 9. Windows 8 will go in the same direction that Windows Vista did, in my opinion (which I'm sure I'll be verbally attacked for now).

[Mikey]

I'll stick to Win7 + Vista. :)

[HotelUser]

Is this 40 million people actually buying straight out licenses or does it include folks who buy new machines which happen to run 8?

If it's the latter I don't think that's as meaningful to me as the foremost. I'd like to see the amount of people who just did a software upgrade, not bought a new computer because other than a Mac it's not like they have very much other choices but to get Windows really. I want to see statistics from people who got 8 because they wanted it, not because they got a hardware upgrade and potentially don't give a damn what their machine runs.

Also, I thought Surface sales would have been larger at this point! I've heard a lot about how surface sales aren't as high as they could be. Hopefully next year we start to see a nice amount of x86 tablets with 8.

[xxMATTGxx]

You'll see more cheap copies of Windows in the near future most likely.


This.

If it were the same price as a Win 7 upgrade, I think their profit margins would be much different. Windows 7 will be like Windows XP in that it'll still be found around the place even after Windows 8 & Windows 9. Windows 8 will go in the same direction that Windows Vista did, in my opinion (which I'm sure I'll be verbally attacked for now).

Considering they have sold more than Vista did in a similar time period then it isn't going to go down the same direction. Windows 8 will be around for a very long time if they plan on doing what has been posted on tech sites this week.


Is this 40 million people actually buying straight out licenses or does it include folks who buy new machines which happen to run 8?

If it's the latter I don't think that's as meaningful to me as the foremost. I'd like to see the amount of people who just did a software upgrade, not bought a new computer because other than a Mac it's not like they have very much other choices but to get Windows really. I want to see statistics from people who got 8 because they wanted it, not because they got a hardware upgrade and potentially don't give a damn what their machine runs.

Also, I thought Surface sales would have been larger at this point! I've heard a lot about how surface sales aren't as high as they could be. Hopefully next year we start to see a nice amount of x86 tablets with 8.

They don't say if it's by new systems or just people upgrading. I would assume a lot of it would be upgrades due to the low price point. Oh and you will never see a true statistic about people who wanted it or just got it because it was already on the machine :P

[Mr-Trainor]

When windows 7 came out the price to upgrade (lowest version upgrade, not full retail) was $160

Windows 8 was what $39?

so not really surprising tbh :P
Yeah that's what I thought :P. Quite a big price difference tbh.

[Chippiewill]

I thought student licenses at Windows 7 launch were £30 though which is quite the offset since a lot of students would be inclined to upgrade in comparison to people older than that.

[GommeInc]

People like anything that's cheap, especially if it's cheaper than it's predecessor so this isn't surprising. It doesn't reflect the greatness of the product - merely the "popularity" at a certain time.

It's all right, but not a desktop OS. When playing with it on a PC I just want it on a tablet.

[xxMATTGxx]

I thought student licenses at Windows 7 launch were £30 though which is quite the offset since a lot of students would be inclined to upgrade in comparison to people older than that.

Yeah it was.