Microsoft's Windows business performance weak in the last quarter

Sina Science and technology news Beijing time October 21 morning, Microsoft (Micro-blog) released today as at September 30, 2011 of the fiscal year 2012, the first fiscal quarter earnings. Sales of Microsoft's flagship Windows operating system have only slightly increased, dampening profits growth as companies and emerging markets cut spending, according to earnings reports.　　Overall, however, Microsoft's first-quarter results matched analysts ' expectations. Windows business Weak Microsoft's first-quarter earnings show windows sales rose only 2% from a year earlier, in line with PC sales slump. Windows still occupies more than 90% per cent of the global PC market.　　While Windows operating system sales ended three consecutive quarters of declines, they were still lower than some analysts had expected. "Windows operating system sales are again lower than expected, although the gap is not as big as in the past few quarters," said Brandon Bannick Brendan barnicle, Pacific Crest Nomura analyst at the US investment bank.　　"Windows 7 has been more stable since its launch in 2009. Microsoft's growth is now largely dependent on its core corporate customers, who continue to invest in technology despite slowing economic growth.　　By contrast, individual consumers are waiting for the release of Windows 8 next year, indefinitely delaying a purchase plan or buying an Apple ipad tablet. Peter Klein, Microsoft's CFO, said that the business PC replacement cycle is still in the middle of the Peter Klein, and he believes the demand will continue to grow. "We expect business PCs to grow faster than consumer PCs, at least for the fiscal year," Klein said in an analyst conference call.　　"In Thursday, Microsoft's share price fell to $27.04 in the Nasdaq conventional trading, down 0.7% to $26.85, which has been hovering over the past 10 years in the range of 20 dollars to 30 dollars." The biggest bright spot for Bing's loss in the first quarter is the signs that the long-term loss of online services, including MSN and Bing search engines, may be starting to improve.　　The department lost 494 million dollars in the quarter, its lowest loss since the last seven quarters, easing some of the pressure on Microsoft's finances. The online service has caused more than 5 billion of billions of dollars in losses since Microsoft launched Bing in 2009 years. Microsoft has invested heavily in this area to catch up with the industry's dominant Google. Microsoft did not have a new stance on grabs's Yahoo in the analyst conference call.　　Microsoft may be partnering with private-equity firms to buy Yahoo, Reuters and the Wall Street Journal reported. Microsoft launched an acquisition to Yahoo in 2008, but was rejected. Analysts asked whether Yahoo's sale would hinder Microsoft's cooperation with the company, and Klein did not respond directly. He said:"It's a long league. They are totally focused on the business we need. "The market expects Microsoft to release its first-quarter earnings for fiscal year 2012 today," he said. Earnings showed Microsoft's net profit in the quarter was $5.74 billion, an increase of 6% per cent, 68 cents a share, and 62 cents a year earlier.　　Microsoft's first-quarter results hit Wall Street's average expectations, but this is the first time Microsoft has not surpassed Wall Street's expectations for the past 10 quarters. Bannick said: "Only earnings per share (EPS) is expected, and Microsoft's earnings per share is usually higher than analysts expect." The first quarter has never been a sales season for Microsoft, so the results are not surprising.　　"On the whole, Microsoft's first quarter achieved revenue of $17.37 billion, an increase of 7% per cent, and the global downturn clearly did not dampen office growth, driven by the sales of Office products." Office Business unit revenue of 5.6 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 8%, is Microsoft's best-selling, most profitable business. Server and Tools business unit revenue of 4.2 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 10% year-on-year, but still lower than some analysts expected. Boosted by Xbox sales, entertainment and equipment business unit revenue grew 9% per cent year-on-year.　　The Xbox is still the most popular player in the United States. Foreign cash increase Microsoft said the 8.5 billion-dollar deal to buy Skype, an online chat service, would increase the company's spending by about $600 million trillion in the current fiscal year. The deal was completed last week.　　According to Microsoft estimates, in the 2012 fiscal year starting July 1, the company's spending will be within a range of $28.6 billion to 29.2 billion dollars. Microsoft's cash reserves now reach $57.4 billion trillion, of which 89% (about $51 billion trillion) are overseas. Microsoft's foreign cash volume is rising sharply, just three months after Microsoft said it had a cash reserve of $52.8 billion, of which 85% (about $45 billion trillion) was overseas. Microsoft's rival, Apple, said in Thursday that its cash reserves amounted to $81 billion trillion. (Xuan Chen) to share: