Back when Windows 10 launched nearly one year ago, Microsoft set itself a goal to have the OS running on one billion devices by 2018.
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Microsoft was given a bit of a head start with Windows 10 figures anyway, thanks to the free upgrade the company offered users of Windows 7 and Windows 8. As a result, the company will have to start relying on new devices, rather than updates, to make up the majority of Windows 10 installs.
ADAM SANDLER opportunity employer Netflix is reportedly no longer available on the Windows 10 store for desktop and mobile. So far the Redmond giant has enjoyed a massive success; Windows 10 is now installed on over 350 million devices worldwide, giving it the highest rate of adoption of all versions of Windows ever.
In a statement, Microsoft said that it “will take longer” to get the number of Windows 10 devices up to a billion, but hasn’t set a new date for when they wish to reach the overall goal.
Apple said this year it has one billion active devices running iOS software that powers the California-based companies iPhones, iPads and iPods. At the time of the prediction, Microsoft was counting on selling 50 million Windows phones a year.
In the US alone there are more than 56 million small to mid-size businesses in critical sectors, such as healthcare, legal and financial services, that need strong security similar to what Microsoft’s large enterprise customers get through volume licensing agreements, he added. However, Windows Phone seems like a terribly neglected platform at the time of writing, and the rumours of new phones targeted at businesses and enterprise don’t sound like they are destined to provide big numbers to materially help towards the billion.
Remember when Microsoft boldly proclaimed Windows 10 will have 1 billion users by mid-2018? And the operating system has managed to fix most of the issues that vexed Windows 8 users, banishing the considerable negativity that surrounded the operating system.
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By the way – that free upgrade ends on July 29 – so if you haven’t claimed it yet, do so in the next 11 days.
