Microsoft - Windows 8 licenses surpass 100 million, PC "very much alive and increasingly mobile"

Microsoft has announced over 100 million licenses have been sold for Windows 8.

According to Tami Reller, the firm's chief marketing and financial officer, the figure represents licenses which shipped on anew tablet or PC, as well as upgrades to Windows 8.

"This is up from the 60 million license number we provided in January," she said. "We’ve also seen the number of certified devices for Windows 8 and Window RT grow to 2,400 devices, and we’re seeing more and more touch devices in the mix."

Reller said despite the popularity of tablets and mobile devices, even those running W8, the PC is also still "very much alive and increasingly mobile."

"The PC is also part of a much broader device market of tablets and PCs. Windows 8 was built to fully participate in this broader and increasingly mobile device market," she explained. "The PC part of the market is rapidly evolving to include new convertible devices and amazing new touch laptops, and all-in-ones. These new PCs are hitting the market now and into the Back-to-School season, and they are more affordable than ever."

She also said Windows Blue, a codename for an update coming later this year, will contain "new innovations across an increasingly broad array of form factors of all sizes, display, battery life and performance," along with more options for "work and play."

The firm's App Store for Windows 8 is also doing rather well, apparently, as Reller said the number of available applications has increased sixfold since launch, already "passed what iOS had in store, in its first year of app development."

The store also surpassed 250 million downloads in the first six months, and almost 90% of the catalog has been downloaded every month.