Things have not gone right for Microsoft over the past few years and this trend continues. According to the latest reports, Microsoft has suffered major losses with its Windows Surface RT tablets. The reports come after Microsoft took drastic steps to improve the sales of the tablets like slashing its price considerably.
In addition, reports also show that Microsoft’s latest operating system Windows 8 has not done good business. These factors contributed to a major drop in revenue. It was soon reflected on the share prices of the company and it dropped to $33.10. Reports say that the loss from the business of Surface RT tablets mounted to $900 million.
According to industry experts, the results are a major blow to the software giant, which is active in the process of transformation from a mere software developer to hardware developer. Rick Sherlund or Nomura Securities said "It doesn't inspire a lot of confidence," "You're in the hardware business now, and pretty shortly after entering it you have a pretty big write down. That's embarrassing."
The loss reported by the company was expected as the PC sales declined by 11 percent last quarter. This trend has been continuing since the last five quarters. Recently, Microsoft has slashed the prices of Windows RT tablets by $150 and the tablets are currently available in the market for just $349.
Even though Microsoft had big hopes about its latest operating system, the much-hyped operating system did not do good business. IDC even blames the operating system for the poor PC sales. However, some others like Gartner disagree to this and say that it is part of the global trend. The operating system lacked many features, which many consumers expected, like the Start button. People also found the operating system difficult to operate, as it has a confusing interface.
Microsoft has not recorded losses in its other divisions. The software giant was able to make profits from its Xbox consoles, servers, enterprise software applications, Bing search etc. However, these divisions did not record profit as expected by the analysts.
Microsoft has already taken many remedial measures to tackle these issues. The company has released an updated version for Windows 8 called Windows 8.1. It is priced at $199.99 for the Pro version and $119.99 for the standard version. It includes the Start button along with many additional features. Microsoft hopes that the new move will reduce the losses and would help improve the sales of its latest operating system.
In addition, reports also show that Microsoft’s latest operating system Windows 8 has not done good business. These factors contributed to a major drop in revenue. It was soon reflected on the share prices of the company and it dropped to $33.10. Reports say that the loss from the business of Surface RT tablets mounted to $900 million.
According to industry experts, the results are a major blow to the software giant, which is active in the process of transformation from a mere software developer to hardware developer. Rick Sherlund or Nomura Securities said "It doesn't inspire a lot of confidence," "You're in the hardware business now, and pretty shortly after entering it you have a pretty big write down. That's embarrassing."
The loss reported by the company was expected as the PC sales declined by 11 percent last quarter. This trend has been continuing since the last five quarters. Recently, Microsoft has slashed the prices of Windows RT tablets by $150 and the tablets are currently available in the market for just $349.
Even though Microsoft had big hopes about its latest operating system, the much-hyped operating system did not do good business. IDC even blames the operating system for the poor PC sales. However, some others like Gartner disagree to this and say that it is part of the global trend. The operating system lacked many features, which many consumers expected, like the Start button. People also found the operating system difficult to operate, as it has a confusing interface.
Microsoft has not recorded losses in its other divisions. The software giant was able to make profits from its Xbox consoles, servers, enterprise software applications, Bing search etc. However, these divisions did not record profit as expected by the analysts.
Microsoft has already taken many remedial measures to tackle these issues. The company has released an updated version for Windows 8 called Windows 8.1. It is priced at $199.99 for the Pro version and $119.99 for the standard version. It includes the Start button along with many additional features. Microsoft hopes that the new move will reduce the losses and would help improve the sales of its latest operating system.
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