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Is Microsoft in trouble?

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Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#31

Post by brown9-2 »

aresant wrote: post #14

What? a) XBOX usage destroys Wii in usage, games purchased, and subscription fees all of which are better indicators of the platform' success than hardware units sold which are traditionally a loss leader. And oh yah, XBOX is wildy profitable. Meanwhile Wii sales are down 45% since last September! b) They are JUST launching their mobile platform which has gotten fair to begrundgingly good reviews and is opening in 30…

They are JUST launching their mobile platform

"Just launching"? It's the seventh iteration of the OS. It's in the name.

Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#32

Post by sriramk »

As someone who works on Windows Azure, this got under my skin a bit :). In particular, I thought this was slightly lazy writing

(W.r.t Azure) "I suspect it’s not performing well" and "Put simply, it’s hard to imagine that Microsoft is aggressively developing or marketing Azure, since cloud computing offerings directly threaten Microsoft’s revenues and profitability in the PC market, especially its Windows and Office products. "

From Ballmer mentioning "we're all in" in pretty much every speech he has done recently all the way to Azure being all over the financial analyst meeting [1][2], I sometimes think there's not a day that goes by when I don't hear about Azure in some way from MSFT :)

[1] http://kara.allthingsd.com/20100729/liveblogging-microsofts-... [2] http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Cloud-Computing/Microsoft-Pushes-Cl...

Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#33

Post by bad_user »

mjfern wrote: post #16
potatolicious wrote: post #8

> "In video game consoles, the Xbox 360 is trailing far behind the Nintendo Wii in market share, despite the fact that the Wii is using older generation technology (VGChartz, 2010)." I was with them until here. The Xbox 360 has claimed a gigantic share of the market starting from nothing just a few short years ago. Compared to Nintendo, whose sales of the Wii have slowed to a relative crawl, and whose mobile gaming m…

Good points, but let me offer a few counterpoints: - All three consoles started from nothing just a few short years ago, and in fact the XBox 360 had a year head start on the PS3 and the Wii (launching at the end of 2005 versus end of 2006 for the PS3 and Wii.) - According to VG Chartz, the Wii has sold 8.97 million consoles from Jan-Oct 2010, while the Xbox 360 has sold 6.8 million and the PS3 has sold 7.1 million.…

You have to take into account the market, i.e. who's buying those Wii consoles.

I have a Wii at home, and after the first month I got tired of it. I also cannot use it as a DVD player and it's just sitting there.

And I wish I would've bought an XBox or a PS3 because you can at least use it as a media station when you're tired of it.

Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#35

Post by Tycho »

I'm not sure I follow the logic of the article that Microsoft has to develop these other segments of its business to be a leader in the future. What's going to touch Windows and Office?

Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#36

Post by latch »

jasonlotito wrote: post #24
latch wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, this is a must-read article about the financial and actual state of bing: http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-is-trashing-us-for-... Essentially, for every 1% non-reoccurring market share (worth $150 million), MS is spending $500 million.

The number is actually "For every $1 of new revenue it generates, it spends $1 in traffic acquisition costs." (FTA) The 150/500 number you have includes all internet businesses. The problem is here, where he compares $2 bill for internet business, and then talks about a 4% increase in search. "Over the past year, despite losing more than $2 billion in its Internet business, Microsoft has gained about 4 search share p…

Ah yes, I think you are right. Still a decent article, but certainly not nearly as damning as I first thought.

Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#37

Post by moqalib »

The article completely drops the ball on the Xbox. The XBox is Microsoft at it's best and it shows. I understand trying to prove a point, but lets not be disingenuous.

It feels like Microsoft is 1 winning product away from turning the tide, or 1 loosing product from sealing it's irrelevance. I can't help but think how this article would've been written if Windows Phone 7 turns out to be a huge success 2 years from now. It's easy to paint a gloomy picture.

The only trouble I see for Microsoft, is one where they are not seen as a leader. One where reactionary product after reactionary product renders them as a technology company seen by the outside world as chasing technology and not laying it's bricks.

Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#38

Post by recoiledsnake »

mjfern wrote: post #25
aresant wrote: post #14

What? a) XBOX usage destroys Wii in usage, games purchased, and subscription fees all of which are better indicators of the platform' success than hardware units sold which are traditionally a loss leader. And oh yah, XBOX is wildy profitable. Meanwhile Wii sales are down 45% since last September! b) They are JUST launching their mobile platform which has gotten fair to begrundgingly good reviews and is opening in 30…

To your points above: a) In Microsoft's 2010 fiscal year (which has ended), its Entertainment and Devices Division (which includes the Xbox 360) generated $8.5 billion in revenues and just $679 million in operating income. Considering Microsoft's consolidated operating income in 2010 was $24 billion, this $679 million only accounts for about 3% of Microsoft's profits. And in any event the Xbox 360, the PS3, and the W…

Regarding point a, the Entertainment and Devices division included Live, which they are heavily investing in, thus giving out a loss. The true profit of the XBox is much higher than $679 million.

And what do you mean by 'Windows Phone 7 is not market ready, and it's already mid-October' ? They're launching in 2 days in Europe and in 3 weeks in the US.

Also, from your linked article you write that Verizon won't be bringing out a WP7 phone in 2010 or 2011. Source?

Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#39

Post by jasonlotito »

latch wrote: post #36
jasonlotito wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The number is actually "For every $1 of new revenue it generates, it spends $1 in traffic acquisition costs." (FTA) The 150/500 number you have includes all internet businesses. The problem is here, where he compares $2 bill for internet business, and then talks about a 4% increase in search. "Over the past year, despite losing more than $2 billion in its Internet business, Microsoft has gained about 4 search share p…

Ah yes, I think you are right. Still a decent article, but certainly not nearly as damning as I first thought.

Disclaimer: I'm a Mac user (iMac, iPad, iPhone 4, MBP, AppleTV... yeah... I know). Linux at work.

I actually think MS is doing really well with it's online initiative. Windows Live software is actually really nice, their Windows Live website actually does a great job integrating a large number social networks. MS Office still sets the bar for office apps (and no, OOo still suffers from missing out on basic functionality). Visual Studio is light years ahead of the competition. Windows 7 is really, really slick. And Windows Phone 7 looks nice. It's not a clone, they seemed to actually push forward with their Metro interface style. On top of all of that, you have XBox.

When you combine all these efforts together, it's very ambitious. Just think, though, for a second, what will happen if they get all these pieces working together.

That being said, I'm hoping for something special the 20th from Apple. They have the hardware, now they just need to get the software right (MS has the software right, they just need the hardware to bring it all together). Apple has the mindshare, but MS has the numbers. Also, MS has put a lot of work into it's developer tools to make app development across all these platforms incredibly easy.

Anyways, what matters to me is that whatever happens, I benefit. I want a strong MS only because it means Apple is forced to innovate and not just rest on it's laurels (which, to be frank, it feels like it's been doing for some time now).

But yeah, it's getting really interesting out there. All sorts of fun. =)

Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#40

Post by recoiledsnake »

ratsbane wrote: post #30
aphexairlines wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this an argument? You personally don't use a product, ergo it's dying?

That clearly wasn't my point. http://blog.rescuetime.com/2010/06/17/google-is-eating-micro...

Those numbers look highly improbable, especially coming from such a small subset.

This article shows the number of Office online users in just the first 100 days after launch as 20 million, compared to 25 million for Google Apps.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/microsoftpri0/20130869...

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