Windows 8 sells 40 million copies to date, faster adoption than Windows 7

40 million licenses of Microsoft’s premier operating system translates to it being adopted at a more rapid clip than its predecessor according to Tami Reller, Microsoft’s new head of business and marketing for Windows.  The company did not provide any specifics as to how many or what percentage of those licenses were upgrades.  The numbers look pretty impressive either way considering it has only been a month since Microsoft released Windows 8 for mass consumption.

For developers the news looked promising as well. Since the launch of the Windows Store, Microsoft reported that several apps have already passed the $25,000 revenue threshold and that the number of apps in the store has doubled. Ms. Reller pointed out that developers keep 80% of the revenue made from their apps for the lifetime of the app. That is sure to pique the interest in would-be developers for the platform.

Microsoft also made it a point to mention that the company was doing as much as it could to entice Windows 7 users to upgrade to Windows 8 by providing an upgrade assistant which verifies if your current hardware is compatible.  A pretty pretty attractive price point is offered as well, upgrading to Windows 8 Pro can cost as little as $39.99.

source: Microsoft