Microsoft has sold 100 million licenses of Windows 8 and users have downloaded more than 250 million apps from the Windows 8 app store. This according to a Microsoft exec who also announced that the company will soon reveal more details on the upcoming large update to the operating system that's currently known as Windows Blue or Windows 8.1.
The 100 million sold licenses include pre-installed Windows 8 installations on tablets and PCs as well upgrades to Windows 8, according to Tami Reller, head of the marketing and financial division of Microsoft. In January of this year Microsoft announced that it had sold 60 million licenses since the introduction of the operating system in October last year.
In comparison, half a year after the introduction of Windows 7 the company had sold 100 million licenses which made it the best selling Windows version ever. Since then Microsoft has sold more than 600 million licenses for Windows 7. Apple sold around 10 million Macs in the past quarters and in the same period around 200 million Android devices have been activated.
Reller also released some information about the Windows Store. According to her there have been about 250 million downloads of Windows 8 applications in the past 6 months and the amount of available apps has been six folded since the opening of the Windows App Store. She also revealed some additional information about Windows Blue. While Reller didn't release any specific details she stated that Microsoft will continue to improve Windows 8 for the next generation tablets and PCs, but also that the company will use the update to implement changes based on feedback of its customers.
That remark might refer to the rumors that Microsoft will bring back the start button and/or start menu, which dissapeared in Windows 8. The update is expected in August or early fall. Reller also said that the Windows Blue update will bring support for Intel's upcoming Haswell CPUs and new chips from Nvidia and Qualcomm.
