The focus for today's big #Windows10Devices announcements was all about the hardware, including the expected Surface Pro 4 and the brand new Surface Book, but we did learn that Windows 10is moving forward and is carrying a lot of momentum since its launch in late July.
This momentum continues despite the noise around privacy and the seemingly unexplainable variation in the Windows 10 experience for some users.
The operating system has now been available since 29 July, exactly 70 days, so lets take a look at the growth and usage statistics provided by Terry Myerson today in New York City.
- 110 million devices are running Windows 10
- 8 million business PCs are already running Windows 10
- Over 50% of Microsoft's managed business customers have already started testing Windows 10 in their companies
- 120 years worth of game play streamed from Xbox One to Windows 10 devices
- 650 billion web pages viewed with the Microsoft Edge browser
- Over 1 billion questions asked of Cortana
- Over 1.25 billion visits to the Windows Store
- 4 time increase in developer revenue since the release of Windows 10
- Increased application usage on Windows 10. For example Netflix subscribers are spending more time in the app then they are on the Netflix website.
Along with the numerical momentum, Microsoft also announced that several new Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps are coming to Windows 10 from various companies:
- Facebook Messenger
- Fitbit
- Flipagram
- Uber
- The Weather Channel
- CBS
- Audible
- Candy Crush Soda Saga
I did the math and that 110 million devices equates to 1.6 million installs per day since the launch of Windows 10.
When Microsoft announced the last set of official momentum numbers on 26 August, that was when it hit 75 million devices, the average number of installations was 2.5 million. That is an average drop of just over 1 million installs per day of Windows 10.
So does that drop mean it is a bad sign for Microsoft that momentum has slowed like that?
Well first, Microsoft was never going to maintain the crazy pace of installs in that first month and over time that number was going to decline anyway. So is it surprising the pace has dropped - no.
Microsoft has established a goal of reaching 1 billion devices with Windows 10 within 2 - 3 years after its launch.
In order to meet that goal in 2 years Microsoft needs an average of 1.4 million installs per day; to reach it in 3 years they will need an average of 913,000 installs per day.
Based on those numbers the goal remains intact - at least for now.
