Friday, January 27, 2006
MS Mobile And Embedded Makes First Profit EVAR!
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "NEWS" @ 07:00 AM
http://www.microsoft.com/msft/earnings/FY06/earn_rel_q2_06.mspx#Channel
Microsoft just reported revenue and profit by segment for the quarter ended December 31, 2005, their second quarter. Microsoft's fiscal year runs from July to June. For the first time in the history of the mobile and embedded division, they have made a profit. On sales of $101 million, they earned $20 million in earnings. It has been a long time coming for a team that released their first major product in 1996 when Windows CE 1.0 when gold in November. Who'd have thought it would take nearly a decade to turn a profit? Any bets as to where the mobile device market and Microsoft's share of it will be in another 10 years? :)
The October-December quarter is typically pretty big with holiday sales for Microsoft's OEM partners which in turn helps MS's licensing revenue. I'll be curious to see how their third quarter, Jan-Mar, will be with the launch of so many devices in North America, like the Treo 700w, the T-Mobile MDA/SDA devices, the Motorola Q, the Cingular 8125 and 2125, the HP 6900 series as well as others.
This too will lay the argument to rest that Microsoft should abandon Windows Mobile as it will never be a profitable business within the Microsoft family of products, or that the only reason is that it is as successful as it is in the marketplace is it is heavily subsidized by MS. The truth of the matter is, it takes time to become a profitable line. Neither Windows nor Office were profitable in the early years. It also shows that the division is cranking out a product that consumers and IT departments are embracing, a division that has knocked its early competitor off of its 80%+ market share pedestal and gone on to claim the majority of the PDA market worldwide. It is completely capable of sustaining itself, and has its cross-hairs aimed at dominating the larger mobile computing space that is also occupied by RIM Blackberry and Nokia.
Microsoft just reported revenue and profit by segment for the quarter ended December 31, 2005, their second quarter. Microsoft's fiscal year runs from July to June. For the first time in the history of the mobile and embedded division, they have made a profit. On sales of $101 million, they earned $20 million in earnings. It has been a long time coming for a team that released their first major product in 1996 when Windows CE 1.0 when gold in November. Who'd have thought it would take nearly a decade to turn a profit? Any bets as to where the mobile device market and Microsoft's share of it will be in another 10 years? :)
The October-December quarter is typically pretty big with holiday sales for Microsoft's OEM partners which in turn helps MS's licensing revenue. I'll be curious to see how their third quarter, Jan-Mar, will be with the launch of so many devices in North America, like the Treo 700w, the T-Mobile MDA/SDA devices, the Motorola Q, the Cingular 8125 and 2125, the HP 6900 series as well as others.
This too will lay the argument to rest that Microsoft should abandon Windows Mobile as it will never be a profitable business within the Microsoft family of products, or that the only reason is that it is as successful as it is in the marketplace is it is heavily subsidized by MS. The truth of the matter is, it takes time to become a profitable line. Neither Windows nor Office were profitable in the early years. It also shows that the division is cranking out a product that consumers and IT departments are embracing, a division that has knocked its early competitor off of its 80%+ market share pedestal and gone on to claim the majority of the PDA market worldwide. It is completely capable of sustaining itself, and has its cross-hairs aimed at dominating the larger mobile computing space that is also occupied by RIM Blackberry and Nokia.
