11 Jun

Microsoft Financial Account: Leader Is Losing Ground

Microsoft income and expenditure statement for the third quarter shows that the company is in the doldrums.

The sales of its leader product– Windows software product – have decreased which reflected the users’ decline of interest in laptops. The problem is that the reduction in the laptop sales coincides with the growth of interest in tablet PC’s and, apparently, Microsoft doesn’t have a clear and efficient strategy to develop this technology.

And if it does, it’s very successful at keeping it secret.At first sight, Microsoft is doing quite well. But it’s just at first sight. Just go a little bit deeper into the income and expenditure statement, and you’ll immediately see that the sales of the company’s main source of income, Windows OS, show rather disappointing results, especially compared to the tablet PC boom. In general the sales and income for the quarter were satisfying.

The income rose by 13% in the United States and reached $16,4 bln., the income rose by 31% to $5,2 bln. These figures owe a lot to Microsoft “working horse” – MS Office and Xbox Kinect.

However, other observers were more outspoken in their assessment of Microsoft situation: tablet PC’s, especially the iPad, is quickly getting over laptops. All this raises the question of what Microsoft is going to do next.

“So far we can’t say anything about the future of Windows, - says Jackie Lawrence, Microsoft representative. – Companies keep buying computers, and their Windows 7 support is still quite strong”. However, it might not last too long, since the popularity of tablet PC’s is growing day by day, along with their efficiency and number of applications. Some companies may even switch to tablet PC’s in general.