Some rather interesting tidbits:
But, of course, the biggest hit of the year for us and for our industry partners was the launch of Windows 7. Windows 7 is absolutely one of my favorite topics, no surprise probably in that. So, I’m glad to be able to spend some time talking about it. We have three big goals with Windows 7. First, we wanted to deliver PC experiences that work the way people want them to work. People want a computer that fires up quickly, feels responsive, and offers longer battery life. Simply put, we all want an experience that is faster, leaner, and less busy. Second, we wanted Windows 7 to make it a lot simpler to accomplish common tasks. People need to be able to navigate quickly, organize their information easily, and access applications instantly.
And third, we wanted to enable a world of new possibilities for software developers, hardware manufacturers, and end users. Our customers and partners want to be able to do new and exciting things, and push the boundaries and capabilities of today’s technology. For each one of these goals I think we delivered in a big way. We get it by working with our customers, with you. Through an incredible process actually of collaboration between our engineering team, our customers and our partners. Windows 7 was an unprecedented effort that included 3,000 world-class Microsoft engineers, 50,000 partners, and 8 million beta-test customers, from soccer moms to small businesses, from grandparents to gamers, from Australia to Zimbabwe, people from every walk of life and every corner of the globe helped us make Windows 7 and make it an incredible success. The results are now speaking for themselves.
According to NPD, U.S. retail data shows that Windows PC sales jumped almost 50 percent the week it launched. On Black Friday it’s reported that retailers sold 33 percent more Windows PCs than the year before. And for the 2009 holiday season a 50 percent increase in Windows PC sales from last year. Last year was a tough year, but these are still phenomenal numbers.
Today I think I certainly am very proud to be able to say that Windows 7 is by far the fastest selling operating system in history. But for me, the most important measure of success is what our customers think, and customer reaction with their experience has been very, very good. A recent survey found a 94 percent satisfaction rate among early adopters of Windows 7. All of this is driving great results for our industry.
After predicting a 2 percent drop in PC shipments in 2009, Gartner now expects the final number to be up 3 percent. That will mean nearly 300 million PCs shipped in 2009, which is an incredible number of smart devices. There’s no more popular smart device today in the world than the PC. And for 2010, Gartner is looking at a jump of more than 12 percent. That’s incredible momentum.
Clearly, consumers are saying that there’s never been a better time to be a Windows 7 PC. With more than 1,400 Windows 7 PC models available, it’s easy to understand why the numbers are so strong. If you look at all of the amazing hardware our partners are bringing to market from All-in-One PCs to ultrathins, netbooks, notebooks, screaming gaming rigs, the range of PCs with Windows 7 is virtually limitless. There is truly a Windows 7 PC for everyone.
The Windows platform represents the broadest ecosystem of developers in the world from casual games to the most powerful software running the world’s biggest organizations. There are over four million Windows applications in all, and Windows 7 allows software to become even better. Developers are creating rich applications that take advantage of the new technologies in 7. Our partners have delivered over 800,000 new unique Windows 7 applications exploiting these new technologies with over 240,000 new devices, peripherals, and machines just since we delivered the beta release.
This all includes an unprecedented array of products that take advantage of new capabilities, platform capabilities like voice, touch, GPS sensing, graphics, social communication, streaming media, and much more, which are available for industry innovation in Windows 7. The quality, the value, and the choice in Windows PCs simply can’t be matched on any other platform. And looking back on the past year, it’s clear that Windows 7 really is a rising tide that has helped lift many boats in our business. But rather than just sit here and talk, talk, talk about what we’re delivering, we’d like to show you what is now available or coming soon.
And to help me do that, I would like to invite onstage Ryan Asdourian from our Windows team. I’m going to show you some Windows 7 PCs, and some other things that are becoming available.
