Better Windows 8 news for Microsoft. -Photo taken from Techradar.com
MICROSOFT CEO Steve Ballmer has claimed that sales of Windows Phone devices are four times higher than they were last year as the smartphone software begins to gain traction.
Ballmer boasted that Windows Phone sales have increased thanks to the new features found in Windows Phone 8, alongside more powerful handsets with improved screens.
“Windows Phone 8 has been on sale for a few weeks and is off to a great start,” Ballmer said at a Microsoft shareholders’ meeting on Wednesday.
“Handsets made by HTC and Nokia are getting rave reviews and have initially sold out in many countries,” Ballmer added, although he didn’t mention any sales figures for the handsets.
While Windows Phone 8 clearly is doing much better than Windows Phone 7, it has been widely criticised for its lack of apps. However, Ballmer also said that the Windows Phone Store now offers more than 120,000 apps, adding that it will soon have “46 of the top 50 apps that people use”, hinting that some big name titles are in the works.
It sounds like it’s been a pretty good fourth quarter for Microsoft, as the company announced yesterday than it has already shifted 40 million Windows 8 licenses – faster than Windows 7 sold. Ballmer also revealed on Wednesday that 1,500 PCs are now certified for Windows 8, although he failed to mention how well Microsoft’s first piece of hardware, the Surface tablet, is selling.