It isn’t news to say that Windows 8 has had a tough time in many markets and uptake had been fairly slow. However, in the last year Microsoft’s newest OS has gained significant traction and new data from the Sage Group suggests that in the last year Windows 8 uptake has surged, at least in Canada it has. Between 2013 and 2014 the share of Windows 8 running on Canadian desktops increased by 19%, taking it from less than a tenth to over a quarter of the entire market. A similar trend was observed in laptops but to Microsoft’s surprise gains were also made in both the tablet and smartphone markets. The below figures include Windows 8.1 and Windows 8, irrespective of whether users have made the upgrade or not, and they also include Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 for smartphones and Windows RT 8 and 8.1 for tablets. It isn’t clear why Microsoft has made such significant gains over the past year but a combination of the retirement of Windows XP, the success of Nokia Lumia sales and the growing popularity of Windows 8 based tablets and ultrabooks probably has a lot to do with it.
Source: Softpedia
Image courtesy of Sage Group
