SEATTLE |
Thu Oct 18, 2012 4:41pm EDT
(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's fiscal
first-quarter profit fell a greater-than-expected 22 percent, hurt by a
dip in computer sales running its Windows operating system and the
deferral of some revenue ahead of upcoming releases of its core Windows
and Office products.
Its shares fell 2 percent in after-hours trading.
The
world's largest software company said quarterly profit fell to $4.47
billion, or 53 cents per share, from $5.74 billion, or 68 cents per
share, in the year-ago quarter.
Wall Street had expected earnings of 56 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Sales
fell 8 percent to $16.01 billion, partly caused by the dip in demand
for personal computers running Windows, as consumers held off new
purchases in the tight economy or opted to buy tablet devices instead.
The decline was exaggerated by Microsoft's deferral of some revenue
which it will regain next quarter.
Analysts,
anticipating the dip in PC sales and accounting for the deferred
revenue, had called for sales of 16.4 billion. Microsoft is hoping to
revive PC sales next week with the launch its new Windows 8 system on
Friday.
"Investors were not
expecting a home run. All expectations are on the launch of Windows 8
and the entrance into the tablet market," said Daniel Ives, analyst at
FBR Capital Markets. "In light of the environment, the macro and PC
situation, these are respectable numbers."
(Reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Richard Chang)
end quote from:
Microsoft profit falls as PC sales shrink
My son who was a computer tech before he got his bachelor of science in Nursing told me a few years ago that people were moving away from desktops and laptops purely for the convenience of a smaller tablet or even smartphone. For someone like myself at age 64 a small smartphone is difficult to read. But for someone 30 or 40 or under using their smartphone or mobile tablet or IPad is always an option. I personally love my IPad because I can easily enlarge ANY text or photo for a better view of it. So, I completely understand why people are moving away from PC's. In our home for example, there is one laptop at least for each person, one desktop IMAC, and two IPads and an earlier IPad we gave to my daughter's boyfriend. And my son and older daughter have smartphones. (I ran my Iphone 4 in the spring through the washing machine so I now have a phone and text phone and a mobile IPad (one of the new ones). So, even though I always hope to have at least a Macbook pro to use at home and travel with and now an Ipad with an Anywhere internet connection that I travel with too, I can see how the world is slowly moving away from PCs and therefore slowly moving away from Microsoft operating systems that mostly only operate on PCs.
AFP
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