Microsoft Windows and Devices executive Terry Myerson offered up the 1 billion claim at the company’s Build conference in 2015.
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Microsoft says it will take more time than it thought to get a billion devices running Windows 10 because of its sharply curtailed ambitions in the smartphone business.
It is fair to say that generally Windows 10 has been well received although one of the biggest criticisms has been that the Windows Media Centre has be revoked – a service that allowed DVD’s and CD’s to be played on their desktop. Its shares fell 30 cents to $53.44 in afternoon trading Friday.
There are now around 350 million devices running Windows 10, Microsoft’s one-size-fits-all operating system that’s equally aimed at PCs, laptops, tablets, games consoles and the various wearables and smart devices peppering Microsoft’s ecosystem. Analysts say for software released past year, that’s an impressive rate of adoption.
But Windows Phones running Windows 10 Mobile were also expected to help Microsoft reach that total by mid-2018 and that particular ship ran itself onto the iceburg and the spotty boy sank below the icy waters.
Microsoft’s mobile strategy is another reason for its failure to hit the one billion device goal.
Microsoft updated Xbox One consoles to run on Windows 10 past year and has a major new update heading to the platform early next month.
Ahead of the launch of Windows 10, Microsoft boldly predicted that the OS would power a billion or more devices by the summer of 2018.
And ignore the Windows 10 criticism because it’s always better to give it a shot yourself and then decide if it’s worth using or not.
The company is blaming its own decision to scale back its smartphone business over the a year ago on the slowdown in Windows 10 sales.
However, as Peter Bright at Ars Technica pointed out, demand for Windows 10 looks set to slow in the near future thanks to dwindling sales of PCs and because the Microsoft programme that lets people upgrade to the OS for free will stop at the end of this month.
Whether the end of the free upgrade offer has an impact on uptake for Windows 10 won’t really been known until July 29th. Windows 10 has now been around for just shy of a year.
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Microsoft said in a statement that Windows 10 is now on more than 350 million monthly active devices but the company likely won’t be able to get to the 1 billion number by 2018.
