Microsoft Talks Key Stats During Recent NYC Event

Microsoft’s overall mission has always been to get its Windows 10 operating system to as many devices as possible around the world. It is a monumental task for sure, but during its recent event held in the city of New York (wherein the company unveiled its new Lumia 950, Lumia 950 XL, and Lumia 550 smartphones, as well as a new Surface Pro 4 tablet and Surface Book laptop), the tech firm also revealed some key statistics that may suggest that Microsoft is making some significant progress regarding its quest.

Terry Myerson, the executive vice president of the Windows and Devices division at Microsoft, stated during the event that Windows 10 has already been installed on over 110 million devices since it was launched back in July earlier this year. Microsoft has been vocal in letting just about everybody know that it wants its Windows 10 to run on 1 billion devices within two to three years. With partners such as Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, and Asus already aboard, Microsoft just might have a decent shot at it.

Myerson also said that over 650 billion web pages have already been visited by Windows 10 users using Microsoft Edge, the web browser that Microsoft developed in order to replace its Internet Explorer browser once and for all. Moreover, according to Myerson, gamers have also been busy -- streaming 120 years worth of gameplay from their Xbox One consoles to their Windows 10 run mobile devices.

As for Cortana, Microsoft’s voice assistant, it has answered more than a billion inquiries since it debuted in Windows 10. There is some good news for developers, too -- more than 1 billion visits have been made to the Windows app store, with developer earnings growing four times as much since Windows 10 was first released. 

On the businesses side, Myerson revealed that more than 8 million business personal computers are already being powered by Windows 10. When Windows 8 was released, most people were never really willing to leave Windows 7 or even Windows XP (of course, the fact that Windows 8 did not create much buzz also helped). But Myerson presents data saying that half of Microsoft’s managed customers are reportedly already starting their trials on Windows 10. 

Impressive numbers notwithstanding, Microsoft’s recently revealed key stats can only improve over time, especially now that the company has introduced a few toys. But with the competition posed by Google’s Android, and of course, Apple’s iOS, it is still going to be a long hard climb back to the top.