Microsoft’s Windows 10 has secured one of its most significant endorsements yet, with Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg confirming that dedicated universal apps for Facebook, Messenger and Instagram are all in development for the platform.
The announcement signals a major vote of confidence in Microsoft’s latest operating system from the world’s largest social media company, and means Windows 10 users across desktop computers, tablets and mobile devices will soon have fully integrated versions of all three apps available to them. An Instagram update is considered particularly overdue — a mobile version of the photo-sharing platform launched on Windows almost two years ago without any significant update since.
The news came alongside a series of figures released by Microsoft detailing how Windows 10 has performed since its launch. Terry Myerson, executive vice president of Windows and Devices, confirmed the operating system now runs on more than 110 million devices. The company’s new Edge browser has recorded 650 million pages opened, and the Windows Store has been visited more than one billion times in the ten weeks since launch.
Users have directed over one billion questions at Cortana, Microsoft’s built-in virtual assistant, while the platform has seen 120 years’ worth of Xbox One gameplay streamed to Windows 10 devices. Microsoft also reported that users are spending more time watching Netflix through its dedicated Windows 10 app than through the Netflix website directly.
The Facebook partnership is not the only high-profile backing Microsoft has attracted. Twitter, Shazam, Box, Netflix, CBS Digital Media, The Weather Channel, Audible and Candy Crush are among the platforms that have publicly committed to the Windows 10 environment.
Shazam reported a 65 percent increase in monthly active users on Windows PCs following the Windows 10 launch, with its universal app for both mobile and PC due for release in the coming weeks. Twitter’s senior vice president of product Kevin Weil described the partnership as offering users a fresh way to engage with the platform through what he called a powerful new foundation.
For those still running Windows 7 or Windows 8, Microsoft is expected to roll out browser updates in the coming period, with the possibility that Edge could be introduced as the default browser on older systems as part of a broader push to migrate users toward the new platform.
With major app developers now publicly aligning themselves with Windows 10, Microsoft appears to be building the ecosystem support it needs to make the operating system a genuine competitor across all device types.
