Windows 8 sales top the 200 million mark

Microsoft marketing chief Tami Reller announced sales of Windows 8.x have surpassed the 200 million mark. The figure illustrates Windows 8.x is selling at a slower rate than Windows 7, it took 15 or so months to hit the 200 million mark whereas Windows 7 reached 240 million sales in its first 12 months.

This number includes only OEM and retail copies of Windows 8.x, volume licenses are excluded.

Still, in a PC market that's shrinking—and which started shrinking even before the release of Windows 8—200 million copies is perhaps not too shabby. PCs as a whole are not selling as fast as they were during Windows 7's heyday, and both Windows and Office are suffering as a result.

As is almost always the case with these numbers, this is a sell-in figure rather than sell-through, which is to say that it represents the number of licenses sold to OEMs and retailers and not the number sold to actual end-users. It also doesn't account for people using downgrade rights (when available). These numbers never do.

Source: ARS Technica