(By Balachander) Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses till date, Steve Ballmer Chief Executive Officer of the world's largest software company said.
During the week of Black Friday, Xbox sales totaled over 750,000 Xbox consoles in the U.S. alone, Ballmer noted.
Ballmer also said the Windows Phone Store now has over 120,000 apps, which include 46 of the top 50, and is rising daily.
Office 365 is on track to be one of Microsoft's fastest growing businesses ever, Ballmer noted, while outlining the company's shift to devices and services.
"Focusing on devices and services will impact how we run the company, how we develop new experiences and how we take products to market for both consumers and businesses," said Ballmer. "The work we have accomplished in the past year and the road map in front of us brings this to life."
Late last month, the software giant unveiled Windows Phone 8, the latest version of its smartphone operating system, taking on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). Windows Phone 8 offers features such as Live Apps, Top apps, Kid's Corner, Rooms, Data Sense and Skype app.
Over the past several months, the company has also shipped new products, including Windows 8, Microsoft Surface, Xbox Music, "Halo 4" and Windows Server 2012, in addition to a host of other products, services and applications.
Ballmer said companies worldwide are already adopting Windows 8 including Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), BT (British Telecom), 20th Century Fox Television Distribution, Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and Seton Hall University.