It’s still a long way from a billion installs, though.
Windows 10’s install base is still growing steadily. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that the Operating System (OS) now has 500 million monthly active devices, up from 400 million last September. That’s significant progress, though it’s still much slower than Windows 10’s growth when Microsoft was offering free upgrades for older machines. The company points to its push to unify its platforms under Windows 10, as well as “strong pickup” among businesses as a big reason for its progress so far.
Microsoft’s goal
Right before Windows 10 first launched in July 2015, Microsoft announced an ambitious goal for the new operating system: getting it installed on 1 billion devices — meaning PCs, tablets, and phones — by the end of its 2018 fiscal year.
The endgame of the drive for a billion users is convincing iPhone and Android app developers that Windows 10 has enough users to be worth their time. Now, Microsoft is halfway to its goal.
Still, it’s clear that Microsoft saw the slowdown coming. While it originally planned to have a billion Windows 10 installs by 2018, it later revised that projection to sometime after next year. Microsoft itself moved the goalposts a little bit here. In July 2016, Microsoft said that getting to a billion active Windows 10 devices might take longer than originally anticipated, thanks to the near-total collapse of the Windows phone business. One thing’s clear, if Microsoft wants to reach that goal soon, it’ll need to figure out a way to bring the OS to even more devices. The company won’t be able to stall its mobile strategy for much longer. We also don’t quite know Microsoft’s definition of “active user.”
And this new number might also be a sign that Windows 10 growth is slowing down, at least a little bit.
Microsoft says that Windows 10 had the hottest start of any version of Windows ever. Thanks in large part to a special offer that let Windows 7 and 8 users upgrade to the new operating system for free within the first calendar year of its release.
By June 2016, Windows 10 had 350 million active users, which went up to 400 million by that September, about a 14% gain over the three months or so. Now, from September to May, it went from 400 million to this new 500 million figure, a rise of 25% over about seven months. That’s a small, but significant, slowdown.
To Microsoft’s credit, it’s making some savvy moves to grow Windows 10. New devices like the Surface Studio PC and Surface Book laptop are wooing away Apple super fans who feel jilted by the latest MacBooks. While the forthcoming Surface Laptop looks to attract students, too. And many businesses are expected to upgrade to Windows 10 within the year.
Final thoughts
So it’s not doom-and-gloom for Microsoft or Windows 10. But it does, perhaps, show why Microsoft is getting s aggressive about getting Windows 10 into more spaces and new markets.
