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Is Microsoft in trouble?

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Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#71

Post by redrobot5050 »

mattmaroon wrote: post #68
patd wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_game... Total Wii games sold as of June 1, 2010: 573 million Total Xbox 360 games sold as of December 2009: 353.8 million Total PlayStation 3 games sold as of June 30, 2010: 315.3 million So yes, the Wii is beating the crap out of the Xbox. Americans don't realize that the Xbox only does well in the US. Europe and Asia are a tough market for Microsoft.

This is counting games that come with the Wii. The Xbox does not come with one. Xbox users pay to subscribe to Xbox live. Microsoft makes money providing the same service that Sony and Nintendo give away for free, and more people use it.

>This is counting games that come with the Wii. The Xbox does not come with one.

I call B.S. The majority of XBox purchasers buy a bundle. Whether it is the Kung Fu Panda / Lego Indiana Jones (this my Bundle...my XBOX came with 2 games) or the Left 4 Dead 2 Bundle or the Halo: Reach Bundle.

Usually if you are buying an XBox console and NOT buying a game, you're buying a replacement XBox because of the Red Ring Of Death.

And everyone who trashes Wii games forget about games like Super Mario Galaxy. Games like that can give you three months of solid playing if you want 100% completion. And no worrying about having to rush/grind through the game before another comes out so the online play is empty.

Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#72

Post by recoiledsnake »

cryptoz wrote: post #66
recoiledsnake wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 bri…

> And what do you mean by 'Windows Phone 7 is not market ready, and it's already mid-October' ? I'm not sure what the OP meant by that, but here are some guesses: 1. If your friend emails you his address and you want to see the Bing Map to the location, you have to find a pen and paper to write it down. Then you have to open the Maps application and manually type it in . This is because there's no copy+paste. 2. The…

1 is patently false. See here http://www.mykindofphone.com/bring-on-bing-for-windows-phone...

>For example, if someone sends you an address in an email, the phone will pick that up and turn it into a link. Click on that and you are in Bing maps

Also, Copy paste in coming at the beginning of next year.

2. JavaScript is fast enough. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgvphQx9MY8 There's no HTML5 though but I fail to see how it creates a 'MS locked-in web experience'.

Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#73

Post by access_denied »

latch wrote: post #22
aresant wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In fact if I was MSFT and you gave me $25.82 (current stock price) I'd give you back $0.64 a year and a share of my stock (current dividend price). And in fact, they've made that sale 8,650,000,000 times so far (current outstanding shares). http://www.dividend.com/dividend-stocks/technology/applicati... EDIT -> You're ignoring that the division DOUBLED profits over the last year, what if they maintain that growth rat…

I honestly look quite fondly on trending, and yes, xbox is trending in the right direction. But I still think calling it "wildly profitable" is silly. Having conceded that its trending positively, in this specific business, you're only as good as your last console. Nintendo is probably the only company that can lean heavily on its brand to get it through a poor hardware iteration (its brand and its so-far good-as-gol…

Because they 'loaded' the brand with characters like Mario.

Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#74

Post by protomyth »

Microsoft makes a lot of money. Sure, its not "sexy", but it has a solid hold on the enterprise. Nothing seems to be taking any significant market share away from Office. People just seem to expect one company to own 90% of the market and that really isn't going to happen with cellphones. Heck, the iPod, probably one of the more dominant devices in a consumer market, didn't get above 75%.

Microsoft, like DEC with the mini to micro transition, is having a tad bit of trouble jumping from PCs driven by corporate sales to mobile devices driven by consumer sales. This is being mitigated by their experience with the XBox line in the consumer market. They make a lot of cash and probably will be one of the big cellphone / portable device operating systems. They also have a very large chest of patents to help with positioning.

Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#75

Post by bryanlarsen »

brown9-2 wrote: post #31
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.

They started at 3, not 1. And giving how incompatible it is with WM6.5, I contend that it's fair to say they're launching a new platform. But it's far from their first try.

Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#76

Post by Retric »

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…

Your being overly generous. Consoles operate on a lifecycle that goes R&D > Manufacturing > subsidized early adopters > mass market > end of life. Over that cycle mass market and end of life are only profitable if they cover R&D costs and the subsidy to early adopters. Based on their sunk and the fact the 360 is not going to last 20 years they have yet to manufacture a profitable console.

Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#77

Post by rbanffy »

redrobot5050 wrote: post #69
latch wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly look quite fondly on trending, and yes, xbox is trending in the right direction. But I still think calling it "wildly profitable" is silly. Having conceded that its trending positively, in this specific business, you're only as good as your last console. Nintendo is probably the only company that can lean heavily on its brand to get it through a poor hardware iteration (its brand and its so-far good-as-gol…

Keep in mind Nintendo is the only gaming company that sells hardware that turns a profit (Sony and MS lose money on console sales, or at least did on launch) and is actively trying to grow the market (and depending on who you believe, doing an incredible job of it) The mere fact that both Sony and MS now sell hardware that imitates the Wii's functionality should tell you this isn't a poor hardware iteration.

I think Sony still sells the PS2 in several markets. That must offset some of the subsidies on the PS3

Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#78

Post by rbanffy »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #75
brown9-2 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are JUST launching their mobile platform "Just launching"? It's the seventh iteration of the OS. It's in the name.

They started at 3, not 1. And giving how incompatible it is with WM6.5, I contend that it's fair to say they're launching a new platform. But it's far from their first try.

Not really. I have seen Windows CE version 2. I must assume they didn't start on 2. NT started on 3 because Windows 3 was the first version of Windows that was usable.

Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#79

Post by tlack »

sriramk wrote: post #32

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…

I think what he means is that, although Microsoft may talk about it a lot, Azure isn't getting nearly as much developer traction as other cloud computing developments, at least from the perspective of the author - and me, and most of the people I talk to.

Re: Is Microsoft in trouble?

#80

Post by bediger »

lionhearted wrote: post #57

I'll never bet against a company with huge, established, consistent revenues and a strong research culture. That combination gives a large chance of being able to bring breakthrough technology to market.

You mean like Xerox, or the old AT&T (pre-SBC takeover)?

Xerox has PARC, and AT&T had Bell Labs. Xerox is still in business, still making copiers, but where's AT&T? Bought by SBC, that's where.

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