Microsoft looks to be firing on all cylinders with another record quarter. Microsoft’s various business units all contributed to provide $16.43 billion in revenue for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2011.
This 13% rise in revenue is being spearheaded by both the business and entertainment divisions of Microsoft. Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft, commented on the breadth of their revenue: “Consumers are purchasing Office 2010, Xbox and Kinect at tremendous rates, and businesses of all sizes are purchasing Microsoft platforms and applications.”
Revenues in Microsoft’s Business Division grew 21% with Office 2010 becoming the fastest selling version of Office ever released. Microsoft’s Server & Tools division also grew 11% thanks to strong adoption of Windows Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008 R2, and System Center.
Bing is also growing despite intense competition from Google. Bing’s US search share rose to 13.9% with the Online Services Division growing by 14%.
Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division looks to be the most promising with 60% growth thanks to record sales of Kinect. Xbox 360 sales are also holding steady with consumers being able to benefit from the wide variety of services available on the platform.
Despite the emergence of new device categories such as the tablet, Microsoft’s current status quo and innovation led by Kinect are providing optimal growth for the company. Windows 7 quickly rose to become the fastest selling OS in history and many of the features to be included in Windows 8 should tackle any shortcoming in Microsoft’s product line and lead to even further growth for Microsoft.
