It will take time to get Windows 10 on a billion devices, says Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation has announced that it will take time to get Windows 10 on a billion devices, but has rescheduled the time table for the ambitious goal.

In a statement on Friday, Microsoft acknowledged that it will take longer' to get Windows 10 on a billion devices, blaming its own decision to scale back its smartphone business over the last year.

Microsoft believes that the slowing efforts to deploy the newest version of its flagship software on PCs, game consoles and mobile devices like tablets and phones will take some more time.

"We're pleased with our progress to date, but due to the focusing of our phone hardware business, it will take longer than [the end of June in 2018 for us to reach our goal of one billion monthly active devices," added the company statement.

The announcement witnessed a hard effect on the share as it fell 30 cents to $53.44 in the afternoon trading session.

Microsoft says Windows 10 is now running on more than 350 million PCs and other devices.

Analysts say that's an impressive rate of adoption for software released last year. But Microsoft has sold relatively few smartphones and has cut back its phone operation.