It was the week after the news of reorganization. With development on Windows 8.1 coming along as planned, the emphasis shifted towards Microsoft’s quarterly earnings call. Early one fine Friday morning, the company unveiled its rather interesting financial details for the second quarter of the year.
Here is a selection of the important Microsoft stories of the past few days:
Statistics of the Week
There are many companies that would proverbially kill for numbers like these, but Microsoft’s numbers for Q2 has got analysts talking. The company is going through an important transition period, but still posted a net income of $4.97 billion on revenues of $19.90 billion.
Loss of the Week
As impressive as the numbers above are one of the major talking points was the write off Redmond made for the Surface RT. The company reported that the development, production, and promotion of the Surface RT resulted in a $900 million loss overall, due to weaker than expected sales of the device.
Product of the Week
With Microsoft already staking a foothold in the highly competitive tablet market, the company seems to have set its sight on its next mobile venture. Rumors are gathering pace that the technology titan is preparing a Windows 8 powered smartwatch due for release sometime in 2014.
Retirement of the Week
What would a Microsoft Week In Review be without news of a product or service retirement? The company is shifting its focus towards mobile computing, and has recently announced that it will kill off the Skype desktop API by the end of the year.
Revamp of the Week
The Bing search engine is the number one contender to Google’s search dominance, and Microsoft keeps on enhancing the service regularly, particularly now that it is to be integrated even more deeply with the upcoming Windows 8.1. The newest improvement is a revamp of Bing Autosuggestions.
