The company claims that Windows 8 adoption remains low due to the lack of touch units

Oct 15, 2013 08:42 GMT  ·  By

More than 30 percent of users worldwide are still running Windows XP, which makes Microsoft’s mission to discontinue the aging operating system pretty difficult.

While Redmond expected most of its customers to move to the brand new Windows 8, it now admits that many actually pick Windows 7, citing the lack of touch-capable devices as the main reason for the slow adoption of the modern OS.

“The number of Windows 7 users increased because users upgraded their OS just in time around the XP support termination announcement. Compared to other versions, Windows 8 especially depends on the hardware. There are not a lot of devices which can utilize the Windows 8 touch feature, which is why the market share is relatively low,” a company official was quoted as saying by Business Korea.

Microsoft will soon debut the new Windows 8.1 OS update, with most, if not all, Windows 8 users now expected to deploy the new version as soon as possible.