
Microsoft has admitted it won’t hit its target of one billion Windows 10 devices in use by June 2018.
The company blames this on its retreat from the smartphone-making business that would have run Windows 10 as a major reason.
It now plans to lay off 1850 workers and take a charge of about US$950 million in its smartphone division as it dismantles the handset business bought from Nokia at great price on the 2014 advice of Stephen Elop, now interestingly an adviser to, and board member of, Telstra.
Windows 10 uptake has outpaced the adoption of earlier versions of the software, with more than 350 million devices currently running the OS.
Forrester Research still thinks Microsoft will reach the one-billion-device target – but not until early 2020.