Microsoft just announced that it has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses so far. This is the first update the company has given since it announced that it had sold 4 million upgrades over the first weekend after Windows 8 went on sale earlier this month. According to Microsoft, “Windows 8 is outpacing Windows 7 in terms of upgrades.”
Today’s update came from Tami Reller, the Microsoft executive who, together with Julie Larson-Green, followed in Steven Sinofsky’s footsteps to lead the Windows business unit after he unexpectedly left the company shortly after the Windows 8 launch. Reller made the announcement at the Credit Suisse 2012 Annual Technology Conference. We assume that this number includes licenses sold to OEM and partners, including those that haven’t yet made it to users, but we’ve asked Microsoft for clarification and will update this post once we hear more.
Microsoft also used today’s announcement to highlight that “there were more apps in the Windows Store at launch than any other app store at their launch and since then, the number of apps in the Windows Store has doubled.” Microsoft did not, however, release any concrete stats about the number of apps that are currently in the store, but Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc stressed that “a lot of great new apps have been added to the Windows Store since launch such as CBS, ABC News, ABC Family, Engadget, Flixster, OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network), Vimeo and my (current) personal favorite – Top Gear.”
