By
Delia
/ Last
update
January 27, 2022
Microsoft Account Service now has more than 1 billion users
Microsoft announced that the Microsoft Account service now has more than 1 billion users, and is growing rapidly by 200-300 million new users each year. The first Microsoft account was registered in 1999 and Microsoft officially opened it to the public in 2006. At that time there were 30 million SkyDrive users and over 260 million Hotmail users, both of which were covered by Microsoft Accounts at the time.
The launch of Windows 11 and Surface devices accelerated the number of Microsoft account signups, with 400 million accounts added since September 2014 alone. Microsoft is also working to retire its Windows Live ID system and replace it with a single sign-in for all services, and recently announced a new feature called "Account Key" that lets users sign into their accounts with a single button instead of entering a password every time they want to access their data.
A Microsoft account is a single user name and password that provides access to many Microsoft services. It allows you to log in and out of services without having to remember a single user name and password. Microsoft accounts are used for a variety of Microsoft services such as Xbox, SkyDrive, Office 365, Outlook, Skype, Bing and MSN.
By using a Microsoft account, you can use the same email address and password on all your devices. This makes it easier to sign in and helps prevent you from being locked out of your account because you forgot your password on one or another device. Setting up a Microsoft account is free; however, some services require a paid subscription fee or are only available through the service in question.
Number of monthly active Windows devices exceeds 1.4 billion
During the latest earnings call, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella reported that there are now more than 1.4 billion monthly active devices in Windows. Monthly active devices here refer to all modern devices running Windows, including Hololens, Xbox game consoles and Windows 10/11 system devices.
Last April, the company said there were 1.3 billion monthly active Windows 10 devices. However, at the time, Windows 11 had not yet been released and was not included in that number. It also hints that Windows remains key to Microsoft's profits despite the pandemic slowing the PC industry. Windows OEM revenue grew 25 percent and Surface revenue grew 8 percent for Microsoft overall in the quarter.