Microsoft executives have revealed that Windows 10 is running on 400 million active machines across the world. Microsoft officials shared the latest data during the Microsoft Ignite conference in Atlanta.
It is worth noting that active machines mean those devices which were active in the last 28 days. Microsoft confirmed that 400 million active machines included PCs, tablets, Xbox One gaming consoles, smartphones and Holo Lens headsets.
Microsoft released the consumer version of Windows 10 in July 2015 and also offered the newest operating system as a free upgrade to eligible Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 devices within the first year of availability.
"Windows 10 marks the beginning of the more personal computing era in the mobile-first, cloud-first world," said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. "Our ambition is for the 1.5 billion people who are using Windows today to fall in love with Windows 10 and for billions more to decide to make Windows home."
Since the initial release, the user base of Windows 10 has been increasing rapidly. In May this year, Microsoft unveiled that there were 300 million active Windows 10 machines in the world. In June, the figure rose to 350 million.
Microsoft had set a target of achieving the 1 billion mark by 2018. In July, however, the company revealed that it may take more time to reach that target. Microsoft announced that lack of demand for the new operating system in the smartphone market was the reason why the company will not hit 1 billion active users by 2018.
The smartphone market has witnessed massive growth in the last few years. However, according to an International Data Corporation (IDC) report, the growth in the smartphone market is declining year-over-year. IDC predicts the worldwide smartphone market to grow by 3.1 percent in 2016, which is significantly low in comparison to the 10.5 percent growth in 2015 and 27.8 percent in 2014.
Moreover, the growth for Windows Phone is also declining. Android is the top mobile operating system in globally.
"Android continues to be the dominant platform in most markets and with Microsoft's ongoing struggles with Windows Phone," says IDC.
According to the IDC report, Windows Phone mobile operating system has a market share of just 0.8 percent.
The figure of 400 million active machines running on Windows 10 may sound impressive to Microsoft; however, some market observers believe that the operating system should have reached more machines, especially given that it was distributed for free for the first year.
It remains to be seen how much time does Windows 10 takes to reach the company's target of running on 1 billion active machines in the world.
