Microsoft announced record revenue for the financial quarter ending December 31, 2012 attributing some of this success to its new Windows devices. But is Windows 8 actually the success story Steve Ballmer claims?

The Windows Division posted revenue of $5.88 billion with a headline statistic of a 24% increase from the prior year period. After adjustments there's an 11% increase for Q2, i.e. October to December, 2012, over the previous quarter.

Reporting these results to investors, Steve Ballmer claimed:

“Our big, bold ambition to reimagine Windows as well as launch Surface and Windows Phone 8 has sparked growing enthusiasm with our customers and unprecedented opportunity and creativity with our partners and developers,”

“With new Windows devices, including Surface Pro, and the new Office on the horizon, we’ll continue to drive excitement for the Windows ecosystem and deliver our software through devices and services people love and businesses need.”

Looking at this graph of the results, however, it is clear that the Windows 8 launch hasn't had the impact of Windows 7:

(click in graph to enlarge)

As CNNMoney puts it:

Microsoft's Windows 8 sales are big -- just not big enough!

Microsoft may try to impress us with the statistic that over 60 million Windows 8 licenses have been sold, but, as we have previously noted, this doesn't mean 60 million Windows devices have reached consumers yet.

However, Windows 8 shouldn't be expected to be an overnight success, particularly as it comes at a time when PC sales are experiencing a slump. Let's see what happens in the remaining two quarters of the financial year before making judgment on its financial success.