Windows 8 sales lag at 200 million licences

Microsoft Corp's Windows 8 system had notched up over 200 million licence sales in 15 months following its launch, according to Tami Reller, its head of marketing. The figures lagged Windows 7 first year sales of 240 million.

The latest Windows 8 sales figure, announced by Reller at a Goldman Sachs technology conference yesterday, was the first that Microsoft had made public for over six months.

According to commentators, the relatively slow sales of Windows 8, as also its latest version Windows 8.1, reflected a steady two-year decline in personal computer sales, with the explosion of smartphones and tablet sales. Tablet sales are set to overtake PCs sales worldwide next year.

Windows 8 was touted as a flexible new system that would work equally well on desktops PCs and touchscreen tablets. However, it ended up alienating many traditional users, while the company's Surface tablet failed to appeal to many Apple Inc iPad users.

In what could be more worrying for Microsoft, the number of people actually using Windows 8 had been persistently low. While many businesses technically had purchased Windows 8 licences, only a few had installed the system on office machines.

According to tech statistics firm NetMarketShare, only about 11 per cent of PC users worldwide were using Windows 8 or 8.1.

Meanwhile, 48 per cent had chosen to go along with Windows 7 and 29 per cent were still running Windows XP, which was over a decade old.

Microsoft said in a statement: "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 licence sales to enterprise. Windows is a central part for more than 1.5 billion people around the world, and we are looking forward to the future."

It was the first update about Windows 8 sales figures since Microsoft revealed sales had reached over 100 million on 6 May 2013.

Meanwhile, commentators say, with a Windows 8.1 update due in April and Windows 8.2 and Windows 9 relatively right around the corner, the Windows ecosystem might yet generate jaw-dropping momentum.