Microsoft won't have 1 billion Windows devices by 2018 after all

At its Build conference back in 2015, Microsoft set for itself a particularly ambitious goal: Have 1 billion devices running Windows 10 by mid–2018.

But now that we’re more than halfway through 2016, Microsoft has backed off of that figure, admitting that goal was just a little bit too big.

In a statement to ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft said (emphasis ours):

Windows 10 is off to the hottest start in history with over 350m monthly active devices, with record customer satisfaction and engagement. We’re pleased with our progress to date, but due to the focusing of our phone hardware business, it will take longer than FY18 for us to reach our goal of 1 billion monthly active devices. In the year ahead, we are excited about usage growth coming from commercial deployments and new devices – and increasing customer delight with Windows.

In other words, when Windows chief Terry Myerson made the claim that there would be 1 billion Windows 10 devices, that was back when the company still thought Windows on mobile devices had a chance. Even Microsoft has all but conceded that’s not going to happen – niche handsets notwithstanding.

Now, that isn’t to say that Windows 10 adoption isn’t still impressive; 350 million monthly devices is a great figure – and that’s up 50 million from the last time the company reported figures in May.

Still, given the stagnant pace of PC/tablet sales, it’s a fair question to ask when – or if – Microsoft can still achieve that 1 billion device goal.

Microsoft was given a bit of a head start with Windows 10 figures anyway, thanks to the free upgrade the company offered users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.

By the way – that free upgrade ends on July 29 – so if you haven’t claimed it yet, do so in the next 11 days.

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