Microsoft: 40 Million Windows 8 Licenses Sold in First Month

Brandon LeBlanc, Microsoft:

As we pass the one month anniversary of the general availability of Windows 8, we are pleased to announce that to-date Microsoft has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses. Tami Reller shared this news with industry and financial analysts, investors and media today at the Credit Suisse 2012 Annual Technology Conference. Windows 8 is outpacing Windows 7 in terms of upgrades.

That’s a huge number, so it’s not all bad news for Microsoft. But as Paul Thurrott points out, Windows is so successful that it usually sells around 20 million licenses per month:

First, I’m surprised no one else has questioned why launch-month license sales of Windows 8 weren’t higher than 40 million units. That figure is double the normal sales rate for Windows — remember, Windows 7 sold about 20 million licenses a month for three years straight — but, looked at another way, it’s only double the normal sales rate of Windows. How is it not more than double?

★ Friday, 30 November 2012