CES 2013 | Microsoft boasts 60 million Windows 8 licenses sold
At the 11th annual JP Morgan Tech Forum in Vegas, Windows CMO and CFO Tami Reller proudly announced sales figures of about 60 million Windows 8 licenses. The data includes upgrades to Windows 8 in addition to license sales to OEMs for new computers. Because of this, the number is more representative of Windows 8 licenses shipped than actually sold to end-users. Regardless, Microsoft has expressed contentment with its latest figures.
The latest Windows iteration launched in October 2012 and now encompasses over 1700 certified hardware systems. The number of apps in the Windows Store has quadrupled since its launch and had already exceeded 100 million downloads just two months in.
Despite the positive outlook, the strong emphasis on touch capabilities has garnered mixed reception amongst users. Fortunately, the increasing amount of notebooks with touchscreen functionality and the continuing rise of tablets promise a better UI experience with Windows 8.