Windows 7 Sales Hit 300 Million Plateau

Just how did Microsoft fare last quarter? Pretty well, according to company chief financial officer Peter Klein, who recently indicated that strong consumer support for Kinect and Windows 7 resulted in better than expected earnings.

Total quarterly revenue has been pegged at $19.95 billion with $6.63 billion in net income. Those numbers are based on surprising growth in a number of different areas, including the company's Business Division, which saw revenue grow 24 per cent over the same period in 2009. (Source: eweek.com)

Windows 7 Sales Surpass 300M Plateau

Windows 7 has certainly proven capable of going the distance. The company recently reported that sales had surpassed 300 million licenses, up 60 million from the last milestone (240 million) reported in October 2010. Microsoft now reports Windows 7 represents 20 per cent of all PCs connected to the Internet. (Source: zdnet.com)

Windows 7's success is no longer surprising, but it is a bit startling to see that Office 2010 licenses have continued to ship at a consistent rate. Thus far, sales of the business software package have outpaced Office 2007 sales over a similar period by an impressive 50 per cent.

Still, there's much work to be done for Microsoft. New reports state that the company's new mobile phone platform, Windows Phone 7, has struggled to entice consumers away from the competition.

Recent sales statistics show Windows Phone 7 accounts for just 2 per cent of the smartphone market, compared to 53 per cent for Google's Android platform. Windows Phone 7 also remains far behind the Apple iOS and BlackBerry, which account for 19 per cent of the total market. (Source: pcmag.com)

Kinect Represents Unique "Opportunity"

Also helping with last quarter profit was Microsoft's Kinect, a hands-free Xbox 360 video game peripheral. The unit shipped a reported 8 million times in just two months. Those stellar numbers helped Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division report impressive growth and unearth new hope in a console market dominated by Nintendo for the last four years.

Klein, who related many of these numbers during a January 27 earnings call, has noted that Kinect represents Microsoft's "opportunity to fundamentally change how people interact with technology." Thus far, it appears consumers agree with such marketing-speak.