Microsoft, the maker of the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office, brought in $16.2 billion in revenue in its most recent quarter — up 25 percent from the same quarter a year ago — thanks to strong sales of Microsoft Office and Windows 7 in the enterprise sector, it announced in its quarterly earnings report today.
The tech giant only earned about $12.9 billion in the same quarter a year ago, and its net income jumped 52 percent to $5.41 billion compared to $3.57 billion in the same quarter one year earlier. Office 2010 sales were up 15 percent compared to Office software sales in the same quarter a year earlier.
Microsoft also recently announced it sold 240 million copies of its Windows 7 operating system in the first year selling the software. The newest iteration of its web browser, Internet Explorer 9, has also proved incredibly popular after it was downloaded 2 million times in the first two days after it was released. Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, which will receive an update to be a more fluid experience with Internet Explorer 9 soon, also continued to gain market share according to Microsoft.
The next question is how Microsoft’s mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7, will affect he company’s game. Windows Phone 7 represents Microsoft’s most recent foray into the mobile phone market after it fell behind the likes of Google and Apple. It will be released in the next quarter — and so far, the future looks pretty good for the smartphone platform. Microsoft didn’t specify how much of its income this quarter came from its current mobile platform — the aging Windows Mobile operating system.
Microsoft’s still no Apple, which brought in more than $20 billion in revenue last quarter, but the latest figures represent a positive move away from Microsoft’s traditional role as a bit of a black sheep in the operating system family. What Microsoft does have over Apple, however, is its video game console, the XBox 360's 38 percent sales growth.
