About a month ago, I wrote an article arguing that the future is bright for Microsoft. Then, last week Microsoft unveiled disappointing earnings for Q4 2013, and the stock nose-dived–dropping 11 percent in a single day. Ouch!
Was I wrong? Is Microsoft’s future actually bleak? Is Microsoft going to crumble to the ground before our very eyes as some have suggested? In a word, “No”.
Microsoft revenue and profit were both up in Q4 2013 compared to Q4 2012. Revenue and profit were both up for all of fiscal 2013 compared to 2012 as well. Microsoft wrote off nearly a billion dollars to account for disappointing sales of the Surface RT tablets, but aside from that most of the indicators actually look pretty good for Microsoft. Investors may be nervous that Microsoft has peaked, and wanted to cash out on top–that is what investors do–but the drop in stock value isn’t really a barometer for the future of the company.
There have been some mis-steps lately. Windows 8 has taken a lot of heat. Sales of the Surface RT and Surface Pro tablets have been underwhelming. There was a major backlash, followed by Microsoft caving to the backlash, followed by a backlash to the backlash when Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One. None of that is all that new, though, for Microsoft. There’s always a mix of good news and bad news–two steps forward and one step back–for the tech giant.
The recent reorganization by Ballmer, and the renewed focus on cloud and subscription services will help Microsoft regain its footing and maintain its role as a dominant player in tech for the foreseeable future. For more, check out Microsoft Isn’t Doomed Yet.
All Comments
no company with a 90% monopoly in PC OS (although I count this to be very unfortunate) can sink. Nope, not until there is a strong competitor. Mac is for the rich chaps and Linux still bears around the stigma of being a geeky OS (although that is wrong from the last half decade or so)
MS will not disappear for one reason, they make good stuff. I use windows 8 on the desk top but love the cheap game and apps on the metro side (I’ll always want my desktop PC). I’d love to have an RT table for the kitchen but the price was to high, but that is changing. I and all my siblings have Xbox One on order. I’m Not saying anything negative about all the other good products and companies, It’s just about what I like. I don’t think it is wise to look at everything like the football play offs, where there is only one team that is the best and we’re are their fans, hence we are the best. Being a fan of a product doesn’t make you better, just a little poorer in most cases. We all have our own value, all equal, be proud of what you do, what you make, how you treat others and have a great day.
If I had read your review two days earlier, I would have thought the same thing….how long will MS be around? But then I read that Apple will be ALSO posting disappointing sales too. So MS is not alone. Although MS took a hit on Surface RT disappointing sales, they should look at the marketing dept/company. The most recent ads running where they compare the iPad and a RT device (MS, Dell, Samsung) show the real difference between the products and it shows CLEARLY who is the winner. Yet, those ads are just coming out now rather than within the first month the RT launch. In Marketing 101, one learns to advertise why your product has better function than the competition (left brain) but also advertise why your product is cool to own (right brain). Unfortunately, until recently we only saw commercials for the latter. There wasn’t a good balance and therefore people didn’t buy the RT. So who should be blamed for all those thousands and thousand of people who walked into an Apple store to buy a more expensive product with less features than the RT? I think it is people who are in charge of the marketing. I remember reading the Billions of dollars MS was going to spend on advertising for Win 8 and the Surface. I don’t think MS got their money’s worth.