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The news: As global PC sales decline and distributed work shifts to the cloud, Microsoft is faced with the challenge of innovating to drum up adoption, by The Register.
Why it’s worth watching: Microsoft Windows is the dominant desktop operating system in the world, but the company has struggled to promote the latest Windows 11 operating system
- Windows 11 runs on less than one in six PCsby StatCounter. This is equal to 15.44% of all computers worldwide.
- 71.29% are still running Windows 10and the downward trend of new PC adoption spoils the transition to Windows 11.
- Support for Windows 10, which ends in 2025, signals that Windows 11 would be Microsoft’s core OS product for the next decade. The problem is that more than half of existing PCs cannot upgrade to Windows 11by Landsweeper.
- Slow adoption and users keeping older computers longer could push Microsoft to extend support for the older OS, or the company could simply ignore the older OS and let customers deal with fragmentation.
Ad-supported Windows PCs around the corner: Microsoft has already splashed Windows 10 and Windows 11 user interfaces with a a bunch of ads for programs and services. The move led to some leftoversespecially for business customers.
- Microsoft is exploring cheaper, cloud-connected, and advertising-subsidized computers.
- The company is already up and running Netflix‘s ad-based subscription model.
- The shift to ad-supported PCs was hinted at by CEO Satya Nadella during the recent earnings call. Nadella said the company’s five-year goals include focusing on moving ads through its own offerings.
What’s next? Qualcomm predicted that 2024 would be the year for Windows on Arm. This could mean more affordable PCs with all-day battery life, comparable to Chromebooks, which are ideal for consumers and the education market.
- There may be a market for cheaper, subscription-based computers, especially in emerging markets.
- Microsoft has already moved key programs and services to the cloud under Microsoft 365 subscriptions Adding hardware and OS software to the subscription model might make sense for some institutional customers.
What’s the catch? Ad-supported PCs are not suitable for the education market or for corporate users. Considering that Chromebook sales are crateringit might not be a good market for Microsoft to expand into right now.
Trends: Microsoft is not the only company that considers advertising to increase revenue. an apple started showing more ads in the App Store.
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