The figure includes not only traditional desktop and laptop computers but hybrids such as the Surface Pro, consoles such as the Xbox One X, and phones that are still running the Windows 10 Mobile. The Mobile version will not have any security updates at the end of 2019.
Prediction in April of 2015
In an announcement back in April of 2015 the company predicted it would be used on a billion devices within two or three years of its release: “Microsoft has huge hopes for Windows 10, and it wants to quickly see the new operating system become its most successful ever. Windows chief Terry Myerson said today that Microsoft wants to see Windows 10 on 1 billion devices within two or three years of its release. “No other platform working in any ecosystem is available on 1 billion devices,” he said. Microsoft believes that between its free upgrade offer for existing Windows customers, new devices, and plans for business users, it should be able to hit that target.”
Revised prediction in 2016
In July of 2016 Microsoft realized it might taken longer to be installed on a billion browsers: “..Windows marketing head Yusef Medhi says the poor performance of its mobile division means it won’t likely hit its original milestone within three years after release.”Windows 10 is off to the hottest start in history with over 350 million monthly active devices, with record customer satisfaction and engagement,” he said. “We’re pleased with our progress to date, but due to the focusing of our phone hardware business, it will take longer than FY18 for us to reach our goal of 1 billion monthly active devices. In the year ahead, we are excited about usage growth coming from commercial deployments and new devices – and increasing customer delight with Windows.” Starting July 30th, 2016, the company will no longer give out the upgrade for free and instead will start charging $119. So the upgrade rate is expected to slow further.”
Indeed, ceasing the free upgrades no doubt slowed the growth of usage. The failure of the mobile version also meant that other operating systems such as Android were dominating the phone market.
Microsoft is still short of its target
While Windows 10 on 800 million devices worldwide is the most popular desktop operating system in the world it is still a long way from being on a billion devices even though it is now over three years since its release. Last year Windows 10 overtook the older Windows 7. WIndows 10 is currently on 40 percent pf PCs according to Net Applications but Windows 7 is still in second place with 38.5 percent. The most popular Apple Mac OS is Mojave 10.14 at just less than 5 percent.
Statcounter data
Statcounter has data on operating system shares on all devices plus particular devices such as desktops and also shows the share of different Windows versions on desktops. On desktops Windows 10 is on more than half the desktops globally by far the most prevalent OS on desktops. However, if one looks at all devices then it is the Android OS that wins at present with 36.5 percent of the market just above that of Windows systems at 35.99 percent. Apple’s mobile iOS has 13.9 percent while its OS X has another 6.37 percent. Linux has a mere 0.79 percent with the rest being unknown or an unlisted brand.
