Microsoft may finally be seeing some method in the tablet madness it had found itself in in the post-PC era. With demand for PCs ever on the decline, its imperative for the Richmond company to drive focus on the other most happening computing segment, that of tablet PCs. In comes the Surface line of tablet devices though unfortunately, both of these tasted dirt during their initial run. However, things seem to be looking slightly better in their second run after being on the rough for almost a year. Revenue from Surface tablet more than doubled to $893 million during Q2, 2014, up from $400 million for Q1, 2014. This no doubt should bring some respite for the company that had to absorb a $900 million damage by way of inventory adjustment with the first gen Surface RT device.
The goodies do not stop here though, for the company also notched up impressive sales of the Xbox One which went in for 3.9 million units sold for the last quarter. Add to that the Xbox 360 which too are in strong favor, having notched up sales of 3.5 million during the said quarter and what you have is a grand total of 7.4 million gaming consoles sold during Q4. Xbox One has already trumped its nearest rival, the Sony Playstation 4 in sales for December after trailing it by a small margin since launch. Whether it can hold on to the lead in the long run is something to be seen.
Things though are a bit different with Windows which saw a hefty 69 percent decline, something that amounts to $264 million and is being attributed to the launch of Windows 8 the previous year. Windows Phone 8, on the other hand reported a 50 percent increase in profit, generating $340 million in revenue owing to greater acceptance of Windows phones worldwide. However, with most of the sales coming from Nokia, Microsoft will have to ensure other device manufacturers too are tempted to sell Windows phone if it wishes Windows Phone platform to soar.
These apart, revenue from search advertisement increased 34 percent while subscription for Microsoft’s Office 365 Home Premium reached 3.5 million. In all, Microsoft is left with revenue of $24.52 billion for Q2 2014 though performance of its core segments such as Windows, Surface line-up, Windows Phones and so on will determine if it can remain that way for the long run.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
