2016 Year-End Recap: Microsoft in January (Windows 10 market share, CES 2016, and more)

It’s less than a month before the year ends. 2016 is one of Microsoft’s biggest years in recent times. This also marks the first year of coming back from Windows 8’s ashes. So let’s take a recap of what happened month by month.

January

Windows 10

In less than 6 months after it was launched, Windows 10 aggressively reached almost 10% of market share. The controversial Get Windows 10 on Windows 7 and 8.x helped it reach the share. Powering more than 200 million devices, Windows 10 already at the top 5 of PC OS market share worldwide.

For Steam stats, the company monthly survey revealed that 32% of Steam users were already rocking Windows 10. This is a big surprise because mostly of the gaming communities preferred Windows XP or 7 because of stability. Stability means less updates and will not interrupt any gaming session which every gamer wants.

CES 2016

The annual technology tradeshow kicked off in Las Vegas showcasing new hardware including Windows 10-powered devices.

Acer, Dell, Lenovo, LG, Samsung, Alcatel, HP, and many other OEMs introduced their new respective devices.

Acer – announced Aspire Switch 12 S – a direct Surface pro competitor, Aspire C Nitro Notebooks with Windows Hello support thru Intel RealSense cameras, TravelMate P648

Alcatel – announced Pixi 3, a Windows tablet running Windows 10 Mobile. An HD 8-inches tablet powered by Qualcomm MSM8909 Snapdragon 210. They also announced OneTouch Fierce XL, a mid-range Windows 10 mobile device destined to T-Mobile.

Dell – announced Latitude 13 7000 series

HP – announced HP Spectre x360 with 4k display (one of the best laptops of 2016)

Lenovo – announced refreshed Thinkpad X1 Carbon with SSD and LTE support, Thinkpad X1 Yoga with OLED and Pen support, Thinkpad X1 Tablet, Yoga 900s (thinnest convertible laptop at that time), IdeaCentre 610S, Ideapad Y900, and ThinkCentre X1 AIO device.

LG – announced Gram 15, a Windows 10 notebook device which claimed it’s lighter than the MacBook Air.

Apps and Games

Microsoft announced ReCore availability for Windows 10.

Internet Explorer – support for IE8, 9, and 10 has ended.

Windows 8 – security patch ends.

Daily Mail UWP app launched in Windows 10.

Candy Crush Jelly Saga launched in Windows 10.

Dropbox UWP app launched in Windows 10.

PBS UWP video app launched in Windows 10.

Other

Windows 10 Mobile got a dedicated update history page alongside with PC.

Microsoft and Samsung partnered for IoT.

Microsoft registered SurfacePhone.com.

After 2 years, Lumia 520 is still the king of Windows phone with 12.9% market share.

Here you go folks. They were the Microsoft-related highlights of what happened in January 2016. Up next, of course, February! Stay tuned!