It has now been four months since Windows 8 was released, and the latest figures show that its growth -- in terms of market share, mind share, and the number of apps in the Windows 8 Store -- is almost at a standstill.
In the month of February, according to Net Applications, Windows 8 gained 0.4% of the desktop market, moving from 2.26 to 2.67%. In comparison, Windows 7 had a market share of over 9% after four months of public availability. A growth rate of 0.4% is absolutely horrendous, and -- if we assume that PCs are replaced every five years -- actually below the natural attrition/replacement rate. If growth of 0.4% wasn't bad enough, it's also worth pointing out that it's down from 0.5% in January -- yes, Windows 8 adoption is slowing down. Windows 7, after a small dip last month, actually gained market share in February.
Desktop operating system market share, as of February 2013
Windows 8's nonexistent growth is mirrored by the Windows 8 Store, where the number of apps -- as tracked by MetroStore Scanner(Opens in a new window) -- now sits at 44,650. This is up by around 4,000 since the beginning of February -- and a similar gain of around 4,000 was seen in January. A 10% growth rate might sound all right, but it's very worrying that it isn't accelerating. If the Windows 8 Store grows by 4,000 apps per month, then we'll be well into 2014 before the 100,000 threshold is crossed. It's worth noting that the Windows 8 Store is still stuffed full of useless, filler apps -- and the inherent brokenness of the Store, as exposed by ExtremeTech back in December, still hasn't been fixed.
At this point, it isn't entirely clear how Microsoft intends to spur the adoption of Windows 8. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but Windows Vista actually enjoyed faster growth than Windows 8 -- and we know all too well how the Vista story played out. Despite selling Windows 8 at a massively discounted price of $40 for three months (it's now $200), and sales boosts from Black Friday and Christmas, it's clear that Windows 8 has failed to take off. Short of giving away Windows 8 for free, there isn't a whole lot that Microsoft can do -- and even then, there are still millions of consumers and business customers that are perfectly happy with Windows 7 and leery of Windows 8's Metro Start screen.
This situation must surely pose a bit of a problem to Microsoft, which desperately needs an operating system that will grab the company by the balls and successfully insert it into mobile market. Windows and Office are cash cows for now, but the desktop market has started to contract -- slowly at first, but it will accelerate. With the mobile market exploding, Windows Phone failing to grab significant market share on the smartphone, and minuscule tablet market share for Windows 8, it doesn't look good for Microsoft.
Now read: Windows 8: The disastrous result of Microsoft’s gutless equivocation -- or if you're one of the few people who actually use Windows 8, check out our tips and tricks for making Windows 8 less useless.
