Today at CES Microsoft announced that it sold some 8 million Kinect sensors in the first 60 days that the gadget was on the market. Microsoft called 2010 the biggest year ever in Xbox history. As we noted before, the Kinect has been an effective rejuvenator of the Xbox 360 brand. More than 50 million Xbox consoles have been sold around the world. Microsoft had estimated that it would sell 5 million Kinects last year....
Despite posting losses for several years, retail (boxed) software sales grew in 2010 to some $2.42 billion. Microsoft controlled over one-third of that particular market during the year. According to theNPD group, strong sales of Office 2010 drove Microsoft’s numbers. Microsoft, along with Intuit, Apple, Adobe, and Symantec controlled 78% of all retail sales. While you might have guessed that all software sales would quickly move to the internet, which they, in a way, are, it must be remembered that software-in-a-box is still a multiple billion dollar industry....
As the Skype deal has yet to become finalized, Microsoftspent a mere75 million dollars in fiscal 2011 (just finished) on acquisitions. That works out to roughly 0.14% of the company’s massive $52 billion cash and short-term investments stash. The company is one of many technology giants sitting on a mountain of cash, with seemingly little use for it. Unlike many of its technology brethren, Microsoft does however pay a dividend....
Microsoft, in an internal video that leaked from the company’s Global Exchange sales conference, took Gmail to task for, what it claims to be, abuse of the data of its users. The company uses this sort of short ‘sales clip’ to show its teams what the corporate opinion on the competition is, and often does so in a manner that is not meant for public consumption. Happily,ZDNet managed to geta holdof the following clip, and have dubbed it legit, even as Microsoft refuses to comment....
Microsoft has a history of creating short videos with a comic element to explain its products, and on the occasion, needle its competition. Today Microsoft released awebsite and videothat directly mock VMware, which is incidentally hosting its VMworld event in Las Vegas at the moment, claiming that its competitor is ‘stuck in the past.’ Microsoft’s argument stems from VMware’s focus on virtualization as a tool. Microsoft, in an internal, butpublically released, interview claims that we are entering into the post-virtualization era:...
