Microsoft's Windows 7 Acquires 70% of Business PC Market

Microsoft MSFT may have achieved a new milestone at least two months ahead of schedule. In an e-mail to the press, Ovum principal analyst Richard Edwards said that his research "suggests that 70 percent of business PCs have successfully transitioned to Windows 7." Last October, The Register reported that Microsoft hoped that 70 percent of enterprise PCs would run Windows 7 by summer 2013. If the company achieved that number now as Ovum estimates, it would mean that Windows 7 is selling at an even faster pace than anticipated. This shouldn't surprise too many investors. Windows 7 has become one of the fastest-selling operating systems of all time, pushing 600 million licenses in less than three years. When Windows 8 was released last fall, 40 million licenses were sold. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer also said that there will be 400 million Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 devices developed by the end of 2013. In January, Microsoft announced that 60 million Windows 8 licenses had been sold. Now hype is heating up for the next iteration of Windows, which has been dubbed Windows Blue. "Windows 8 was about birthing a new model of applications, essentially a tablet model," IDC analyst Al Hilwa told The Wall Street Journal. "Blue is the next milestone in this plan. It brings the phone and PC platform closer together and makes both more compelling." According to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, "Windows Blue (Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1) are to Windows 8 the way Mountain Lion (and the other cat releases) are to Apple's AAPL OS X." "Whether it's about colors or cats, these are new operating system releases," Foley wrote. There are, however, conflicting reports regarding the mobile inclusion of Windows Blue. While the update is not expected to come to Windows Phone, it could merge the worlds of desktop and mobile devices. "If -- and it's still a lofty if -- there's a shred of validity to rumors that Microsoft will merge the Windows and Windows Phone platforms, 'Blue' could end up being a huge deal," CNNMoney's Adrian Covert wrote this week. "Dissolving the barrier between mobile and desktop would be nothing short of impressive." Indeed, an OS that perfectly combined both formats would have the potential to change the entire PC and smartphone industry. Louis Bedigian is the Senior Tech Analyst and Features Writer of Benzinga. You can reach him at 248-636-1322 or louis@benzingapro.com. Follow him @LouisBedigianBZ