EL reg has a brief summary here.
The general view is that Vista has not helped the financials, and there is still a question mark over Windows XPs June retirement.
Of course I’m not bothered about that I want to know how the Business division that owns Office has done.
Revenue down 9% from Q1 last year apparently. There are suggestions that that may be due to an artificially high Q1 last year due to Office 2007 coupons or something – although I don’t remember that being discussed last year. (‘fastest selling version ever’ is how I remember it)
I wonder what component, common across several of the key Office products could have discouraged 9% of potential customers?
cheres
Simon
PS Of course I have no idea of the real causes of the results, but why let that little fact get in the way?
I guess Office 2007 could be booming and Navision could have bombed, but something big must have slumped to drag the whole division down 9%.
Anyone got links to decent analysis?
Friday, 25th April, 2008 at 3:23 pm |
What I’d really like to see is how the actual installs have gone. I.e. Of those slumping sales, how many companies have, like mine, bought Office 2007 and installed 2003? I think that sales stats are only part of the Office 2007 story.
Friday, 25th April, 2008 at 6:36 pm |
excellent point Ken
Friday, 25th April, 2008 at 9:12 pm |
“I wonder what component, common across several of the key Office products could have discouraged 9% of potential customers?”
You are a bad, bad boy !!!!
Dick
Saturday, 26th April, 2008 at 5:14 am |
The article below sheds some light:
The two second summary is this:
Companies here in the US seem to be tightening their belts due to economic jitters, effectively stalling new PC purchases. This had a huge impact on the sales of Microsoft’s new Windows system. Afterall, a new OS is typcially launched via new PC sales.
While emerging markets (India and China) made up a large number of PC sales, the price point in those countries are typically lower; not to mention piracy issues still out of control in China.
All this put together basically means that “revenue growth relative to unit growth isn’t as strong as it used to be”
My take on this is that no one product caused the profit drops at Microsoft. It’s a mix of shifting market forces and shifting winds.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aQ7_iN1SxJ.c&refer=worldwide
Saturday, 26th April, 2008 at 5:31 pm |
MSFT is trying to buy Yahoo! for a reason. It wants to become less dependent on hardware. Trouble is they have a track record of relative failure with their non-software ventures (aside from the Xbox).
I’d guess Vista is more disappointing than Office 2007. There’s no class action lawsuits about Office like there are about Vista. Bad press, embarrassing e-mails between senior execs, inability to provide the headline features on machines only 2 years old, and outside speed comparisons that show XP can be significantly faster in some circumstances. With Office 2007 it’s just the old news stuff – more bloat, different-for-the-sake-of-difference UI.
Anyone recall how MSFT fared just after the .com bubble burst in late 2000/early 2001?
Saturday, 26th April, 2008 at 6:44 pm |
Thanks for the link Mike, some good analysis there.
Harlan – no, but they would have been just starting to push classic asp around then.
Saturday, 26th April, 2008 at 6:51 pm |
If I were a cynic I might imagine that the whole Yahoo thing is a diversion to take the heat off some of the issues in other areas.
Look at the financial analysis, instead of focusing on the 3 months just reported, it goes off to talk about the potential impact of the Microhoo mess.
Tuesday, 29th April, 2008 at 1:12 pm |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7370821.stm
UK PC suppliers are employing a little lateral thinking to extend the ability to distribute XP and delay the migration to Vista. Its distorting upwards the figures for those that have upgraded (Is that an oxymoron?)