Hotmail Numbers, Facts, and Figures

In prepping my review of the new Hotmail over the past week, I started noticing that there were a lot of interesting numbers being tossed around in the meetings I had with Microsoft and in the materials they provided. So I created a simple document to collect them. Here they are: 370 million active Hotmail users worldwide About 75 percent of Hotmail users--or over 275 million users--also use Messenger 350 million Office documents pass through Hotmail every month Over 15 billion Office documents are stored in Hotmail right now 1.5 billion photos are delivered through Hotmail every month New photo and Office document sharing limits in the new Hotmail: 10 GB of photos or documents per email message, up to 200 photos/documents, each up to 50 MB in size Exchange ActiveSync compatibility is available on roughly 300 million phones worldwide 80 percent of mail reported as "spam" is not spam but is instead "junk mail" or "gray mail" 50 percent of the typical email inbox is unwanted mail of some kind (spam or junk mail) Almost 90 percent of all web mail traffic online is spam Today, only 4 percent of mail in an average Hotmail inbox is spam, down from 35 percent in 2006 (Using Gmail metrics, it's just 1 percent) Getting rid of spam is email users' number one feature request. Number two is the inability to send large attachments. Number three: Junk mail and clutter reduction Every user gets unlimited storage capacity in the new Hotmail

Paul Thurrott

May 18, 2010

1 Min Read
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In prepping my review of the new Hotmail over the past week, I started noticing that there were a lot of interesting numbers being tossed around in the meetings I had with Microsoft and in the materials they provided. So I created a simple document to collect them. Here they are:

370 million active Hotmail users worldwide

About 75 percent of Hotmail users--or over 275 million users--also use Messenger

350 million Office documents pass through Hotmail every month

Over 15 billion Office documents are stored in Hotmail right now

1.5 billion photos are delivered through Hotmail every month

New photo and Office document sharing limits in the new Hotmail: 10 GB of photos or documents per email message, up to 200 photos/documents, each up to 50 MB in size

Exchange ActiveSync compatibility is available on roughly 300 million phones worldwide

80 percent of mail reported as "spam" is not spam but is instead "junk mail" or "gray mail"

50 percent of the typical email inbox is unwanted mail of some kind (spam or junk mail)

Almost 90 percent of all web mail traffic online is spam

Today, only 4 percent of mail in an average Hotmail inbox is spam, down from 35 percent in 2006 (Using Gmail metrics, it's just 1 percent)

Getting rid of spam is email users' number one feature request. Number two is the inability to send large attachments. Number three: Junk mail and clutter reduction

Every user gets unlimited storage capacity in the new Hotmail

About the Author

Paul Thurrott

Paul Thurrott is senior technical analyst for Windows IT Pro. He writes the SuperSite for Windows, a weekly editorial for Windows IT Pro UPDATE, and a daily Windows news and information newsletter called WinInfo Daily UPDATE.

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