Windows 8 Surpasses 100M Users in Six Months

During the first 30 days at retail, Microsoft MSFT sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses. Now, six months after arriving on Best Buy BBY store shelves (among many other retailers), Windows 8 has crossed a new milestone. Tami Reller, Microsoft's Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Financial Officer, told the Official Windows Blog that more than 100 million Windows 8 licenses have now been sold. According to The Next Web, this means that Windows 8 is selling at the same rate as its predecessor, which sold 600 million licenses in less than three years and has acquired 70 percent of the business PC market. This adds credence to the theory that consumers want Windows 8, not a brand-new PC. From its inception, Microsoft has promoted the benefits of upgrading to Windows 8, noting that it can improve the performance of older machines. Based on the lackluster PC sales, it would seem that consumers have taken Microsoft's advice. Many manufacturers still have high hopes for 2013. Hewlett-Packard HPQ thinks that it can sell 40 million notebooks this year, most of which will be Windows 8 machines. A small number of them could be Google GOOG Chromebooks or Androidbooks, but the majority will run Microsoft's OS. Some notebook manufacturers might discount their Windows 8 touch screen machines by as much as 10 percent in hopes of spurring new sales. Thus far, Intel's INTC Ultrabooks concept has not provided Windows 8 -- or Windows 7 -- with a boost in hardware sales. Nonetheless, Ultrabooks are estimated to account for half of all notebook sales by 2016. That sales goal could be achieved even sooner if the current estimates are met. Ultrabooks are expected to account for 40 percent of all notebook shipments in 2013. Getting consumers to actually buy them, however, is the real challenge that Intel faces. The ongoing PC sales troubles are not exclusive to Windows, however. Lifetime Chromebook sales have yet to reach 500,000 units, making it one of the least popular Windows alternatives available. Mac sales have also been declining. After three years of increases, total Mac sales declined more than 20 percent during the fiscal 2013 first quarter. Mac sales continued to drop during the second quarter, though at a slower pace. Louis Bedigian is the Senior Tech Analyst and Features Writer of Benzinga. You can reach him at 248-636-1322 or louis(at)benzingapro(dot)com. Follow him @LouisBedigianBZ