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Microsoft Admits Poor Economy Will Hurt Revenues
Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer has stated that his company's revenues are likely to be affected from the current global economic situation.
Speaking to Reuters, Ballmer explained that “revenues in our industry, and in our company, will be affected by the economic conditions.” Ballmer was, however, speaking about his company in general terms, and the extent in which the Xbox Division will be affected remains unknown.
Ballmer was speaking at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, where Microsoft's focus has so far been on new applications and services for Windows Mobile.
Back in January Microsoft announced that it would be cutting 5,000 jobs over 18 months, with cuts being made across an array of departments including R&D, marketing, sales, finance, legal, HR and IT.
It is thought that the cost-saving measures will reduce Microsoft's annual operating expense run rate by about $1.5 billion, and reduce fiscal year 2009 capital expenditures by $700 million.
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Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
So the passengers in first-class have finally noticed that the Titanic has sprung a leak...
yup micro soft is in real heat, I found this link. While they were playing with the xbox 360 they were not looking after pc Industery. That also includes pc gamers as well. I wonder how their share holders are feeling?
http://www.itexaminer.com/microsoft-realises-its-in-trouble.aspx
losing billions on consoles and now paying the price.
Pretty obvious this. Windows 7 will be more of a flop than Vista. Why? It's still far too expensive. In a world where people can get almost anything for nothing over the internet and consoles have removed the once essential need to upgrade gaming hardware, I can't see anyone forking out for a new windows in this current climate.
It's ironic that the version model for operating systems only works as long as every product you release is deliberately or accidentally flawed. XP just works too well. Oops.
Message to MS: you need a FREE version of the next windows if you want to make any inroads into your own empire!
Actually it has been possible to download windows 7 for free, as part of the beta program. The problem with Vista was the hardware manufactures reluctance to develop 64 bit device drivers.
Windows 7 already feels like a mature operating system. The media capabilities are first class: it is a simple matter to watch/stream media around the home once a £25 usb digital tv receiver has been purchased. The Aero functionality is also no longer an afterthought but impressive. My business utterly depends on MS Ops/ Office / Dynamics combination, and I consider these views a little naive.
Sorry, all this economy driven baiting (Sony / MS) has become rather unpalatable.
Baiting? I'm just saying how I think things will play out.
I'm not biased, I think everyone will do badly (or as they like to put it, "beneath expectations".)
You personally may need to keep up with OS versions, but I don't and I doubt many others do either, especially now money is tight and margins are tight. Steam stats claim that 65% of 1.5 million users still use 32bit XP.
Windows IS their empire, Jason. Why would any company give away their primary product for free??? Besides, the last time MS tried to give things away for free (Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, etc.) the EU sued them for several hundred million dollars, because now their own companies couldn't charge for what MS was just giving away. What do you think the EU would do if MS had the audacity to give away an entire OS (although they don't seem to have a problem with other companies doing just that)?
When I say "free", I mean "kind of free": the user would download and install a version that is entirely free which will never deactivate. MS could then make inroads into the advertising revenues that it has failed to take from Google by having a brief advert appear before any app launches. When users can't stand the ads anymore, they upgrade. Maybe the EU wouldn't get a free version.
Something along these lines would surely, boost the W7's overall use - they'd love to ditch XP. MS would still get revenue from new hardware sales (apparently this was what sold most of the Vista units). (And about 50% of the worlds population wouldn't even be aware that there's a new OS.)
Or even a subscription system. Say £5 a month. I'd be happy with that.
I see where you're coming from, but I think the current economic climate demonstrates how risky an advertising based revenue model would be (that's why so many websites/publishers/tv are having massive layoffs since they rely on ads).
As you stated, MS actually gets most of their OS income from the sale of PC's which already have the OS bundled into the system, so in a way, it already seems free to new buyers. Of course, that doesn't help those who want to update an existing PC.
I wonder how much money has left the xbox 720 R&D bank account.