Microsoft Releases Third Quarter Earnings With Segment Revenue Growth

This correlates with Gartner's smartphone statistics for the last quarter of a year ago, where it noted that Microsoft's Windows Phones only managed to claim 1.1% market share, and sold only 4.3 million phones.

Despite increased revenues and income, the company saw its shares fall after it missed earnings targets. Microsoft sold just 2.3 million Lumia phones during its latest quarter.

The company reported earnings of $3.8 billion, or 47 cents a share, for the third quarter on sales of $20.5 billion. "As these organizations turn to us, we're seeing momentum across Microsoft's cloud services and with Windows 10", said Nadella in a statement.

Revenue from its Surface line of PCs and tablets grew 61 percent year over year, adjusted for currency changes, while phone revenue was down 46 percent on a similar basis.

Surface revenue shot up 56% to $1.1 billion.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported that enterprise adoption of its cloud-based Office 365 rose 57% in the March quarter.

Sunderland closes gap on Norwich in EPL relegation fightSunderland last beat Norwich in a Premier League meeting at the Stadium of Light in February 2012. Norwich began the game without defender Timm Klose, who has been a solid part of its defense.

In PBP category, Microsoft witnessed an increase of 1% in revenue reaching $6.5 billion but saw aa decline in operating profits which dropped 7%.

Further revenue growth was seen in dynamics products and cloud services which grew by 9% in constant currency year-over-year.

Those figures included a deferral of more than $1.5 billion in revenues related mostly to the July release of the new Windows 10 operating system, which represents a new model for how the company will distribute and update its flagship software.

Microsoft shares on Friday dropped 7.2%, their worst day in 15 months, as the software giant's third-quarter earnings missed estimates and faltering growth in cloud computing spooked investors. Microsoft accounted its search ad revenue growth to Windows 10 usage, noting that 35 percent of its search revenue in March was driven by Windows 10 devices.

Revenue in Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud segment, meanwhile, grew 3 per cent (u p 8 per cent in constant currency) to US$6.1 billion, with Microsoft stating Azure revenue grew 120 per cent in constant currency. "Companies from large established businesses to emerging start-ups are turning to our cloud solutions to help them move faster and generate new revenue".

First-quarter 2016: Xbox Live monthly active users grew 26% to 46 million.

Source: Microsoft Releases Third Quarter Earnings With Segment Revenue Growth

Life360 ends support for its Windows Phone family location app

Life360 is no longer supporting its Windows Phone family tracking app, telling a customer that it "does not have any plans at this time to further develop the app for the Windows mobile device platform."

Life360 first launched on Windows Phone 8 in 2014 and later the app was updated to support Windows Phone 8.1. It allows parents to keep track of their kids and friends. While the app is still available to download in the Windows Store, an email sent to a Windows Central reader confirms that it won't be updated further.

We are unable to support the latest version of Windows devices. Life360 does not have any plans at this time to further develop the app for the Windows mobile device platform. The current version of Life360 is designed to work only on iPhone and Android smartphones.

Thanks to Dave for the tip!

Download Life360 from the Windows Store

Source: Life360 ends support for its Windows Phone family location app

Is This the End of Microsoft's Lumia?

In fact, the company posted weaker than expected figures for the whole quarter: $22.07 billion in revenue, $6.82 billion operating income, $4.97 billion net income and $0.62 earnings per share (all non-GAAP figures).

The US tech giant posted a net profit of US$3.8 billion as revenues dipped six per cent to US$20.5 billion in the fiscal third quarter to Mar 31.

Microsoft's cloud platform Azure is one of the mainstays in CEO Satya Nadella's growth strategy, where the cloud platform is fighting fiercely with rivals Google and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

This comes despite continued growth across its main divisions: Productivity and Business, Intelligent Cloud, More Personal Computing, with noted impressive growth for Azure where revenue shot up 120% year over year in constant currency.

Mobile division revenue declined a whopping 46%, as the company managed to sell only 2.3 million Lumia smartphones.

Adjusted revenue of $22.08bn was just shy of the $22.09bn analysts had expected, according to Thomson Reuters.

Nadella claimed Windows 10's productivity, security and device management capabilities are a hit with business users, adding that 83 percent of enterprise customers are in active pilots today.

Its Surface lineup continues to perform well, seeing an increase of 61% thanks to devices like the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book. "As these organizations turn to us, we're seeing momentum across Microsoft's cloud services and with Windows 10", said Nadella in a statement.

Cloud computing is seen by many investors as Microsoft's salvation, a growing business that has convinced many there is a bright future for the company beyond the troubled personal computer (PC) market. Revenue slid 5.5% to $20.5 billion, and on an adjusted basis rose 1.6% to $22.08 billion.

Revenue in the group rose 1 per cent to $9.46 billion in the quarter.

Company shares sank, trading 4% lower in after-hours trading.

Microsoft only sold 2.3 million Lumia phones last quarter. Still, the company said, this quarter's result outperformed the overall PC market. Microsoft accounted its search ad revenue growth to Windows 10 usage, noting that 35 percent of its search revenue in March was driven by Windows 10 devices. A deteriorating PC market is also another trend that has impacted sales not only for Microsoft but for other major technology companies as well.

Redick: We have to win Game 6Even before their great defensive finish to Game 5 , Stotts thinks this run of defensive play is the best they've had all season. The role players - guys like Wesley Johnson, Cole Aldrich and Pablo Prigioni - have to outplay Portland's role players.

Source: Is This the End of Microsoft's Lumia?

Is Microsoft Planning to Shut Down Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile OS? Know More:

Microsoft has been one of the biggest names when it comes to the world of technology. The company has been coming out with a large number of updates and upgrades in the world of technology and has been changing the way we know the markets to be. The company has been the driving force behind some of the biggest updates when it comes to the Operating Systems, but has been a miserable unit when it comes to the mobile phone markets, as the Windows 10 Mobile OS and the Windows Phone devices are not doing as well as they were supposed to be.

Microsoft has now been working twice as hard trying their very best to ensure that their devices sustain in the markets. However things are just not working out, and the devices are continuing a free fall in the markets.

It has now been anticipated that the higher ups in the company's management, the investors and the members of the board are rather upset with the way the things are being carried on, and the company is now expected to take drastic steps to control the damage.

Microsoft has bled out close to 12 Billion Dollars over the last one and a half years, and it is anticipated that the company will continue making more and more losses over the years with no returns in sight. The investors are now working towards changing the way the markets of technology work, and the company has been planning to shut down the whole division at large.

Microsoft has already started distancing itself from the Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile OS division, as the company made no announcements regarding the future of the device at the Build 2016 event.

More details are expected to be out soon, and the signs of things will begin to get apparent if no further mobile phone devices are launched this year.

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Source: Is Microsoft Planning to Shut Down Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile OS? Know More:

Free Lumia 950 with Lumia 950 XL offer may end early due to low supply

The Microsoft Store's free offer of a Lumia 950 with the purchase of a Lumia 950 XL may end today, two days ahead of schedule, due to the low supply of Lumia units.

The BOGO offer began on Monday in the U.S. and Canada and was scheduled to end on May 1, but according to a Twitter post from noted Microsoft journalist Paul Thurrott:

Microsoft Store anticipates ending their Lumia 950XL BOGO deal earlier than expected due to inventory levels. 4/29 instead of 4/30.

— Paul Thurrott (@thurrott) April 29, 2016

The unlocked Lumia 950 XL is priced at $649 in the U.S. Microsoft Store, while the Canadian store has priced it at $849

See at Microsoft Store Canada

See at Microsoft Store U.S.

Source: Free Lumia 950 with Lumia 950 XL offer may end early due to low supply

Windows 10 Upgrade Message Pops Up, Interrupting Live Weather Report

Microsoft is so eager to push its Windows 10 and make it world's number operating system that it doesnt consider what user needs. With such small numbers of people using Windows Phone devices, restricting a good Office 365 experience to Windows Phone was not working. However, before today's announcement, the Windows team offered certain SKU's of Windows 10 to users (primarily businesses) that allowed a work-a-round that connected Cortana's search results with a browser other than Edge. Microsoft justifies this decision by saying how other browsers compromise the Cortana experience.

Microsoft's Surface Book and Surface Pro lineups upgraded previous year can be rightly said to be one of the best in their respective categories, and if we're to believe the rumor mill's current whisperings, then it seems like the company might just be ready to transfer this success in the smartphone sphere as well.

All of that hinges on Cortana knowing that it's going to open in the Edge browser with the Bing search engine, Microsoft claims. AdDuplex presumes that with this recorded trend, not everyone leaving WP 8.1 is hopping onboard to Windows 10 Mobile.

Before you get too excited and think that we finally have some major changes at the top you should know that Windows Phones appeal mainly to folks who shop in the low-end segment of the market.

As a result, today if I do a search within Cortana, it gives me results that, if I click on them, jump me into Chrome. To use the service you first have to connect your Office 365 account to Cortana's notebook.

Just when you thought Instagram on Windows Phone was dead and buried, a new update appears from the heavens. Earlier this month, Microsoft has previewed some visual changes and asked its users to provide feedback on the new design.

But that was just the default setting.

You can drop, drag and reorder favorites on the Favorites Bar in Microsoft Edge. Manufacturers and developers do not want to support a platform that has limited users. By default, Windows will prompt you to upgrade at moments of its own choosing, regardless of what applications might have window priority.

Source: Windows 10 Upgrade Message Pops Up, Interrupting Live Weather Report

Windows Phone Usage Stats for March

In this month's peek at Windows phone usage, we see that the Lumia 520 has finally fallen from its perch after an almost three-year run. But the big news is that new Windows 10 Mobile handsets are virtually nowhere to be seen.

As you may know, AdDuplex bills itself as the largest cross-promotion network for Windows phone and Windows apps. AdDuplex empowers developers and publishers to promote their apps for free by helping each other. And each month it provides a glimpse at which Windows phone (and Windows) devices people are actually using.

Here are the highlights from this month's report.

New Windows 10 Mobile phones are … nowhere. Microsoft launched the Lumia 950, 950 XL and 550 in late 2015, and then launched the 650 about a month back. But none of these phones have cracked the usage charts, not even in Windows phone-friendly locales like Italy, Russia or India. The one exception: The Lumia 550 pops up in the top 10 in the UK only. That sucks.

Lumia 520 is no longer number one. The Lumia 535 this month become the most-often-used Windows phone handset, finally ending the Lumia 520's nearly three year run. But it's a close race, and if you combine the Lumia 521 and other 520 derivatives with the 520, as you should, I suspect the might mite is in fact still in first place. Not that it matters.

Microsoft/Nokia still at 97 percent of the market. And the rest—HTC with 1.01 percent is the only one over 1 percent—just don't matter a bit.

Windows 10 Mobile creeps up towards 10 percent of usage.New Windows 10 Mobile handsets may not be selling, but users are at least upgrading, with 9.2 percent of all Windows phones now on the latest OS. Windows Phone OS dipped below 80 percent.

Source: Windows Phone Usage Stats for March

Facebook, Messenger, Instagram Arrive on Windows 10

It's a sign that Microsoft's Universal Windows Platform strategy might just be working, as Facebook and other developers just have to build one app that can work across a variety of devices - that ultimately helps Windows 10 Mobile.

Facebook, Inc. operates as a mobile application and Website that enables people to connect, share, discover, and communicate each other on mobile devices and personal computers worldwide.

Thanks to its recent push into live video and the continued popularity of its mobile app, advertising revenue shot up 57%, to $5.2 billion, over the same period previous year. You can stay up-to-date with Facebook through desktop notifications, and you can pin a new Facebook Live Tile which shows you the latest updates from your friends, family and Pages you follow.

As for the new Windows 10 Messenger app, it offers features like stickers and GIFs to help you spice up your one-on-one and group chats. It will also support Live Tiles, showing updates right on the home screen. But Microsoft, Facebook's apparent new bestie, has its HoloLens, which is now the only high-end augmented reality headset you can buy, though it's a hefty $3,000.

The social networking giant on Thursday announced new apps for Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile.

When Instagram first arrived on Windows Phones in 2013, it was a somewhat pale imitation of the experience you get on Android and iOS. Pop-up notification have also been added to these apps, to keep you coming back and stay updated with your social life on the internet.

This new application will replace the older Facebook Windows 8 app when it launches later today, though you'll still be able to use the prior version if you have it installed, says Facebook.

Windows 10 at six months: Ready for primetime? .

The most important feature that the new Instagram app brings is support for video uploads - a feature that still hasn't made its way to the official Windows Phone beta.

Sanders To Cut 'Hundreds' Of Campaign Jobs And Focus On Winning CaliforniaAt rallies, Sanders has sent mixed signals during the past week over whether he will ease up on Clinton. Sanders announced the layoffs in an interview with The New York Times .

Source: Facebook, Messenger, Instagram Arrive on Windows 10

Microsoft Disappoints but Surface Sales Provide Some Hope

Microsoft's Cloud division generated sales of $6.1 billion in the March quarter, up 3% from a similar quarter past year. Analysts on average had expected a profit of 64 cents per share on revenue of $22.09 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

"Organisations using digital technology to transform and drive new growth increasingly choose Microsoft as a partner", said Nadella.

Microsoft reported quarterly earnings missed analysts' expectations on Thursday, while revenues came basically in line.

Microsoft said that its Intelligent Cloud segment, which includes its lineup of Azure public cloud services, posted a revenue increase of 3% to $6.1 billion. But in the previous quarter, the same segment grew 5%.

As expected, Microsoft's Windows business suffered from the 11.5% drop in PC sales.

There's also been growth all-round in Microsoft's cloud services, with Office commercial revenue growing 7 percent and Office consumer revenue growing 6 percent.

Factoring out currency effects, revenue in the Intelligent Cloud, Productivity and Business Processes, and More Personal Computing segments rose 8%, 6% and 3%, respectively.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported that enterprise adoption of its cloud-based Office 365 rose 57% in the March quarter.

However, revenue in the More Personal Computing group grew just 1pc.

Its Surface lineup continues to perform well, seeing an increase of 61% thanks to devices like the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book.

As revenue from PCs and Windows has declined as a share of the company's overall revenue, Microsoft hopes to revive its fortunes by placing a big bet on software and mobile services delivered from the cloud. Earnings and revenues for the quarter fell short of analysts' estimates. "For phone we expect year over year revenue declines to deepen in Q4 as we work through our Lumia channel position".

Microsoft says Windows 10 is now running on more than 270 million machines, a healthy figure for software that was released only nine months ago.

The number of subscribers to Xbox Live, the games console's online service also increased, with active user numbers up 26% on past year to 46 million players, the company said.

However, Phone revenue declined by 46% in constant currency.

Amy Hood, Microsoft's chief financial officer told analysts on an earnings call, said the company expected continued growth from Surface products in the current quarter but warned that decreases in Lumia revenues would accelerate in the quarter.

Source: Microsoft Disappoints but Surface Sales Provide Some Hope

Introducing Instagram for Windows 10 Mobile

When we first built Instagram for Windows, we were focused on bringing the app's core features to the Windows Phone community as quickly as possible. Today, we're rolling out Instagram for Windows 10 Mobile with all of the community's favorite features — including Instagram Direct, Explore and video.

You'll also see that Instagram for Windows 10 Mobile supports Live Tiles, showing you updates right on your home screen.

You can learn more about Instagram for Windows 10 Mobile in the Instagram Help Center.

Instagram for Windows 10 Mobile is rolling out today in the Windows Phone Store.

instagram, instagram news, windows phone,

Source: Introducing Instagram for Windows 10 Mobile

Lumia 950 gets £40 discount with Surface bundle in the UK

Microsoft Store buyers in the UK can get £40 off the price of a Lumia 950, plus an extra free year of Office 365, if they buy the phone with the Surface 3, Surface Pro 4 or Surface Book by May 12.

Here's how this particular deal works (via Neowin). If you go to the Microsoft Store UK site and put one of those Surface products in your cart, an offer will pop up to throw in the Lumia 950 and one year of Office 365 Personal for the price of £359.99. That's £40 off the price of the phone itself, which normally sells for £399.99, plus they throw in the free year of Office 365 Personal which is usually £59.99.

Keep in mind that the Lumia 950 already comes with an offer for a free year of Office 365 Personal, which means this bundle gives buyers in the UK two years of Microsoft's productivity service. Also, if you buy the Surface 3, you gain yet another year of Office 365 as it also comes with its own free offer.

See at Microsoft Store UK

Source: Lumia 950 gets £40 discount with Surface bundle in the UK

We're Still Committed to Windows 10 Mobile

Microsoft's continued commitment to the Windows 10 Mobile operating system seems logical to me.

Microsoft has said that it is committed to supporting Windows 10 on mobile and it is now in the process of developing its next generation smartphone models.

Microsoft will apparently released a Windows 10 Mobile Redstone 2 update at the same time as the Surface Phone and this will apparently be a major update to the platform. It's a bad sign for Microsoft's phone business, which has already been on the ropes for a while now. Microsoft Mobile users had complained in the past that they are not getting attention from the company any more, and Microsoft has been neglecting them, giving the newer non-Nokia phones a greater priority.

Products? Phones? Tablets? Something else?

The Redmond giant is stepping away from the traditional way it handles Quests in its Feedback Hub, allowing Windows Insiders to tackle the bugs in the sequence and style that comes naturally to th em, rather than laying out the steps of how to access a feature or scenario. Speaking from experience, Windows 10 Mobile suffers from bad performance issues (out of which some of them have been addressed but numerous ones still remain).

Microsoft is now running a 'two-for-one Lumia phone campaign' in Canada and the United States, which means purchasers of a Lumia 950 XL get a Lumia 950 for free. The phones have barely been out for six months and now Microsoft is saying that if you buy the larger Lumia 950 XL unlocked at the Microsoft Store before May 1 you'll get the 950 as a freebie (only available in the US). Now the company is reportedly working on a fresh start to help push Windows 10 onto its ideal smartphone, which is being called the Surface Phone. It's no big secret that Windows Phone/ Windows 10 Mobile is not exactly Microsoft's strongest suit, but the company is not ready to ditch such endeavors either.

When more mobile app developers will make apps, more cust omers will adopt it and it will go on. However we will soon have another similar device HP Elite X3. That revenue is growing, based on Microsoft's earnings reports, and it will continue to grow as more and more consumers shift their attention to premium "ultramobiles". Of course Microsoft didn't reveled anything about the Surface Phone. Or Microsoft won't be selling "an expanded lineup of phone devices", meaning that it could be selling a limited lineup of phones?

Instead of battling Ariana Grande, Jimmy Fallon lip sync talk it outAs such, a lip sync team-up between the two was likely inevitable - and it's as entertaining as you'd expect. Ariana Grande joined Jimmy Fallon for a lip-sync battle of sorts, but with a twist.

Source: We're Still Committed to Windows 10 Mobile

Microsoft Lumia phone sales keep dropping rapidly

In the third quarter, which ended March 31, Microsoft's net income fell to $3.76 billion from $4.99 billion the year before.

CEO Satya Nadella said the company is seeing momentum across its cloud services and with Windows 10. Executives touted the growth and strength of the company's cloud business and noted that weaker PC sales and a strong decline in Microsoft's phone business hurt overall results.

Amy Hood, Microsoft's chief financial officer, said her company's operational and financial discipline helped drive a solid quarter.

Revenue in the "Intelligent Cloud"-the business segment that includes the Azure cloud infrastructure, services and server software-grew 3% to $6.1 billion".

Windows OEM revenue dropped 2 per cent, outperforming the remainder of the PC market.

In total, Microsoft's Productivity and Business Processes unit grew 1% (up 6% in constant currency) to $6.5 billion. "But, the combined top line and bottom line miss will raise the stakes for their final quarter of the 2016 fiscal year".

Revenue at the Redmond, Washington-based software giant fell to $20.53bn from $21.73bn.

Adjusted revenue of $22.08 billion was just shy of the $22.09 billion analysts had expected, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Surface revenue increased 61% in constant currency and topped $1 billion for the second straight quarter for the first time outside of a holiday period, the company said. Microsoft said it was able to outperform the PC market because of a "higher consumer premium device mix".

Microsoft posted its third-quarter earnings report yesterday, revealing that the company's cloud division is its best-performing business.

The company listed a number of slight gains for the quarter, with Office commercial products and cloud services revenue up seven percent, and Office consumer products and cloud services revenue up six percent. Phone revenues were down a hefty 46 percent from a year ago.

Not surprisingly, revenue from Windows revenue declined. The company sold just 2.3 million Lumia devices in the quarter, a 73% decline from the same period a year ago.

Its Intelligent Cloud Business revenue gained 3% (8% if foreign exchange is not taken into account), which also includes Azure.

Search advertising revenue (excluding traffic acquisition costs) grew 18% in constant currency, benefiting from Windows 10 use, Microsoft said.

All in all, a pretty good quarter for Microsoft all things considered - but something clearly needs to be done about Windows Phone.

Source: Microsoft Lumia phone sales keep dropping rapidly

Microsoft's cloud business is growing, but its phone division is nose-diving

Yesterday, Microsoft released third-quarter report of its fiscal year 2015 (3QFY15) with $20.5 million revenue roughly in line with analysts' estimation.

Productivity and Business Processes revenue was $6.5 billion, up 1 percent year on year, with operating income of $3.0 billion, down 7 percent.

"We are the only cloud provider that helps companies embrace the cloud on their own terms", CEO Satya Nadella said in an earnings call. As for server products and cloud services, Microsoft said revenue increased 5 per cent. Azure revenue increased by 120 per cent.

Microsoft said its Intelligent Cloud segment, which includes its lineup of Azure public cloud services, posted a revenue increase of 3% to $6.1 billion.

The company's Surface tablet (which is still not yet available in South Africa) increased its revenue by 61 percent as demand for the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book increased, and Xbox Live's monthly active users grew 26 percent year-on-year to 46 million subscribers. Last year, Microsoft sold 8 million phones in the same quarter. CFO Amy Hood said results are being hurt by weakness in one-time purchases of software, Bloomberg reported.

Overall one could say this quarter was a rather mixed one for the Redmond giant with a downfall in Windows and phones business whereas steady growth of business across cloud and services segment.

The Intelligent Cloud unit also includes Microsoft's on-prem server software products, including Windows Server and SQL Server. A deteriorating PC market is also another trend that has impacted sales not only for Microsoft but for other major technology companies as well.

Compared to the previous quarter, when Microsoft sold 4.5 million Lumias, the drop does not look quite as bad, although we are still looking at a 48.88 percent decline.

The results showed a two per cent drop in revenue from Windows, the PC operating system which has been the core for Microsoft for years, despite a larger drop in PC sales.

However, while Windows Phone as a platform continues to be a pariah for the company, many of Microsoft's other divisions showed continued growth.

Accordingly, phone revenue dipped 47 percent, dragging down overall device revenue by 11 percent. Even Microsoft's PC business is down 2% in constant currency, which is better than the rest of the PC market.

"We're making Office 365 more than a world-class productivity and communications service", he said.

Search ad revenue grew by 18 percent, thanks to growing Windows 10 usage.

Villa owner Lerner takes blame for relegationThe Saints retook the whip hand in the early stages of the second half, with Rodriguez seeing an effort deflected narrowly wide. Dusan Tadic's double and goals from the impressive Shane Long and Sadio Mane kept their slim Europa League chances open.

Source: Microsoft's cloud business is growing, but its phone division is nose-diving

Microsoft Surface Phone release date in April 2017: Desktop experience with Office software and Continuum

Microsoft Surface Phone release date in April 2017: Desktop experience with Office software and Continuum

Microsoft Surface Phone release date in April 2017: Desktop experience with Office software and Continuum

So the question that almost everyone asked has been solved. The question 'when Microsoft's Surface Phone will be launched' has a definite answer now.

Latest reports suggest that Redmond based tech giant is all set to launch its marquee smartphone in the market to showcase its prowess with its technology and operating system next year. Reports suggest that the handset(s) will be launched in the market in April.

Media reports suggest that tech giant's Surface Phone will be arriving almost the same time when Microsoft will also be releasing its Windows 10 Redstone 2.

A report in the leading tech blog Windows Central says that with Microsoft putting its complete focus around Windows 10 OS for now, the handset will be delayed. Microsoft would have loved to launch the Surface Phone much earlier, nonetheless it wants to give its users the best experience possible.

In the meantime a report in TechRadar says that Microsoft is working hard to turn smartphone into desktop with its impeccable Office software and its Continuum feature.

"Quite how Microsoft plans to make it the most secure phone is more questionable. It's got a lot of competition in that area from BlackBerry, Samsung KNOX and niche devices like the Turing Phone, but it makes sense for Microsoft to change its focus, given that it's making little headway against Android and iOS in the mainstream consumer market…If you're not interested in productivity or security the Surface Phone could still tempt you though, as previous rumors suggest it might come in three different versions- a consumer model, a business one and a premium edition", says the report.

Another report in the Bitbag says, "The key feature of Surface Phone will be its Continuum that'll differentiate the device from the other major players in the market. The feature, which already comes in devices like Lumia 950 and 950 XL among other devices, allows you to connect the mobile to larger displays with OS scaling appropriately to simulate a PC like experience. Microsoft's strategy with its mobile device is to make the Surface Phone a real alternative to a computer, specifically targeting business users to buy a single device instead of two".

Source: Microsoft Surface Phone release date in April 2017: Desktop experience with Office software and Continuum

Microsoft kills Messaging-Skype integration in Windows 10 Mobile Build 14332

Microsoft removed Messaging-Skype integration in Windows 10 PC version with the Build 14316 in favor of the Skype UWP Preview app. Now seems with Build 14332 the Windows 10 Mobile also loses the Skype integration.

As you can notice in the screenshot above, Skype related settings are gone from the Messaging app along with the loss of integration. There is no trace of the Skype Video app too. What is however surprising is that Skype UWP Preview app for Windows 10 Mobile is not available too. So only way you can do Skype now on Windows 10 Mobile Redstone is to use the old Windows Phone Skype app.

Source: Microsoft kills Messaging-Skype integration in Windows 10 Mobile Build 14332

Microsoft's doing well, but Lumia smartphone sales are tanking

Overall, the company's revenue continued to shrink slightly, with total revenue in the first quarter reaching $20.5 billion compared with $21.7 billion a year earlier. We feel very good about that. Improved profit margins were driven by lower expenses in Microsoft's phone business, which the company scaled back drastically past year, and sales of Surface portable devices. New capabilities included more features for Skype for Business, analytics, and security.The company blamed a higher than expected tax rate for part of the lower net income.

The worldwide business of Microsoft was hurt by a strong USA dollar, as well as declining PC sales. On the consumer side, there are 22.2 million Office 365 subscriptions, up 6%. All told, the More Personal Computing segment saw its revenues climb 1 percent to $9.5 billion.

Analysts were seemingly expecting Microsoft to post numbers much in line with the same period previous year.

This segment grew by 1 percent with cloud services and dynamics products posting the biggest growth rate at 9 percent.

Azure revenue grew 120 percent with usage of Azure compute and Azure SQL database more than doubling.

Cloud computing is seen by many investors as Microsoft's salvation, a growing business that has convinced many there is a bright future for the company beyond the troubled personal computer (PC) market.

"In response to enterprise customer demand, and to increase our share in the cloud market, we grew operating expenses by 13% through Azure-focused investments across engineering, additional sales and marketing capacity and the acquisition of Xamarin", Hood said. And by the looks of things, Microsoft's phone sales are on a free fall. Microsoft said it was able to outperform the PC market because of a "higher consumer premium device mix".

On Monday, IBM reported its 16th consecutive quarter of revenue decline, as commercial customers abandon the once-standard model of buying programs to install on their own computers, and instead use more software online. 35 percent of search revenue in March was driven by Windows 10, indicating that the Bing and Cortana integration in Windows 10 is yielding dividends.

The number of subscribers to Xbox Live, the games console's online service also increased, with active user numbers up 26% on a year ago to 46 million players, the company said.

"We're seeing great traction with businesses who want to bring Microsoft's cloud, mobile device management technology and data analytics together to improve security and productivity resulting in nearly 70% year-over-year growth in our commercial cloud run rate", Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft, said in a news release.

Source: Microsoft's doing well, but Lumia smartphone sales are tanking

Microsoft reconfirms support of Windows 10 Mobile, cites value to “business customers”

We've written plenty of words on the future of Microsoft's smartphone platform. Windows Phone is behind us, obviously, and being replaced by the mobile version of Microsoft's newest OS, Windows 10 Mobile. All of the noise around Microsoft's apparent pull-back from smartphones, including their very recent BOGO deal on the Lumia 950 and 950 XL, have caused many people to question Microsoft's commitment to smartphones.

Just today, Windows Central managed to get their hands on an internal email from Microsoft's Terry Myerson that seems to confirm the company's commitment to Windows 10 Mobile. In the email, which was written to Microsoft execs and partners, Myerson said:

I understand that you are hearing concerns from certain partners about Microsoft's commitment to the mobile space.

Let me be very clear: We are committed to deliver Windows 10 on mobile devices with small screen running ARM processors.

We are currently in development of our next generation products and I wanted to reconfirm our commitment to Windows 10 Mobile. We believe in this product's value to business customers and it is our intention to support the Windows 10 Mobile platform for many years. We have a device roadmap to support that from Microsoft as well as our OEM partners who will also be selling an expanded lineup of phone devices based on this platform.

Now, this certainly seems to support an ongoing smartphone strategy, including the likelihood of a Surface Phone at some point in the future. At the same time, the wording is interesting, particularly the bit about Windows 10 Mobile's "value to business customers." There's a theory that says Microsoft isn't interested in consumer smartphones, and that Windows 10 Mobile will be more of an enterprise play. This statement really doesn't do anything to refute that theory.

We'll have to see what happens to Windows 10 Mobile and Microsoft's smartphone strategy going forward. This email seems to reaffirm the company's commitment to mobile, while at the same time providing little evidence for a consumer smartphone focus that would make Windows 10 Mobile directly competitive to iOS and Android. Let us know in the comments whether you think this statement is good or bad for Microsoft's smartphone business.

MicrosoftsmartphonesSurface PhoneWindows 10 Mobile

Source: Microsoft reconfirms support of Windows 10 Mobile, cites value to "business customers"

Microsoft only sold 2.3 million Lumia phones over the last three months

Microsoft has re-iterated its belief in a mythical annual income of $20bn from cloud despite growth in Azure and its apps-as-a-service business slowing.

Revenues from the company's Azure platform grew by 120 per cent in constant currency, while Azure compute and Azure SQL database use also more than doubled. Enterprise Services revenue was up 11 percent (15 percent constant currency).

Over the past few quarters, Microsoft and other tech companies have reported significant impact from the high value of the U.S. dollar, and have offered equivalent financial figures that show what their numbers would have been had the value of foreign earnings not been eroded by this conversion.

Excluding one-time items, Microsoft earned 62 cents per share.

Amy Hood, Microsoft's chief financial officer told analysts on an earnings call, said the company expected continued growth from Surface products in the current quarter but warned that decreases in Lumia revenues would accelerate in the quarter.

As a result of this, shares of Microsoft fell almost by 5% in the after-hours trading. Revenue in the segment edged up 0.9% to $9.46 billion, while operating profit jumped 57%.

Here's how you can fix Windows 10 not storing wifi passwords. Microsoft attributed this growth to Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book sales, but of course it neglected to provide firm numbers for how many tablets and computers it sold in the last three months. Expectations among Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Reuters was for revenue of $22.09 billion and earnings per share of 64 cents. This was driven by lots of new subscribers to Office 365 - the cloud-based version of the Microsoft productivity apps - those old favourites of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. As with the server products, 6 percent constant currency growth in Windows subscription revenue was offset by a corresponding decline in transactional revenue. "It remains clear we are one of the two leaders in the market".

"There's still a long ways to go in terms of the multiple-year transition in the company from a Windows and on-premise software company to a cloud, mobile and service-oriented company", Parakh said. Surface devices are strong sellers for the company, with over $1.1 billion in sales during the quarter.

Revenue for Microsoft was $20.5bn, down 6% over the a year ago with revenue from its Productivity and Business Processes unit growing by 1% to $6.5bn. Phone revenue dived 46 percent.

Microsoft posted revenue of US$20.53 billion (around $26.44 billion) for the quarter, down from US$21.73 billion year-on-year, with net income of US$3.76 billion down from US$4.99 billion. Those figures included a deferral of more than $1.5 billion in revenues related mostly to the July release of the new Windows 10 operating system, which represents a new model for how the company will distribute and update its flagship software.

Microsoft's best-known play in the cloud is Azure, a set of services for computing and storage as well as tools for software developers.

Source: Microsoft only sold 2.3 million Lumia phones over the last three months

Future of Microsoft's Phone Business in Question After Lumia Sales Plummet

However, the company's overall revenue fell by 6% on the same period a year ago to 20.5 billion dollars (£14.3bn). Windows 10 is the fastest-growing version of Microsoft's operating system, and as of Thursday, it had been installed on 270 million devices, representing 35% growth from the previous quarter.

As Microsoft relies less and less on revenue from PCs and Windows licensing, the company is moving forward across a treacherous landscape to hopefully emerge highly profitable and competitive in the future world of Cloud computing.

The company blamed a higher than expected tax rate for part of the lower net income.

What's more, the company's phone revenue also dipped by 46 per, on top of last quarter's similar 49 per cent fall. Azure revenue grew 120% in constant currency, Microsoft said, with Azure SQL usage more than doubling. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting adjusted earnings of 64 cents a share and revenue of $22.1 billion. Revenue from its Surface devices was up to $1.1 billion, a 61% increase year on year. Microsoft's hardware efforts were a mixed bag, with just 2.3 million Lumia smartphones sold in the three months to the end of March, compared to 8.6 million sold during the same quarter in 2015.

Microsoft reported that Office commercial products and cloud services revenue grew by 7%, driven by Office 365 revenue growth of 63% in constant currency - the exchange rate that eliminates the effects of exchange rate fluctuations.

Windows Phone now has a 2.54 percent share of the global mobile and tablet operating system market, according to March data from the Web and mobile analytics firm Net Applications. The commercial cloud segment of the company clubs together revenues from Azure and Dynamics CRM Online as well as Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS), along with Office 365 business services, which encompasses Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Skype for Business Online.

Meanwhile, "the intelligent cloud" was one of the key focus areas of Microsoft executives during the company's quarterly earnings calls.

"For the first time, we're opening up Office 365 not just as an enterprise tool in the service, but as a developer platform", he said. Revenue grew 1% to $6.5bn.

There was good news on the Xbox front too, with Xbox Live active users rising by 26% compared to past year, with 46 million players now using the service.

Run rate are fictionalizedprojected earnings that firms like Microsoft are throwing out "run rates" to convince Wall St their cloud business is real and long term. During its fiscal third quarter, Windows 10 continued to benefit Bing, as Microsoft's search advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs rose 18% on a constant currency basis.

Source: Future of Microsoft's Phone Business in Question After Lumia Sales Plummet

Microsoft Q3 2016 Earnings Report Shows Windows Phone Drop, Surface Rise

Shares in Microsoft, once the world's largest company, were down 4.3 per cent in after-hours trade following the results, which were weaker than expectations. Consensus estimates had pegged Microsoft returning $0.64 in EPS.

Microsoft's cloud strength highlighted the third quarter results with the total revenue of $22.1 billion non-GAAP coming from three operating groups. In the past three months, Microsoft has benefited from growth in subscribers and higher sales for each Office 365 license.

Office commercial products and cloud services revenue grew 7 per cent in constant currency and Office consumer products and cloud services revenue 6 per cent. Gaming revenue grew 6 percent in constant currency, with 11 percent increase in game revenue partially offset by reduced revenue from hardware sales.

BENGALURU/SAN FRANCISCO - Microsoft reported results that fell short of analysts' expectations, showing its high-profile cloud business can not quite make up for a slowing personal-computer market. The company also reports that there was a $1.5 billion impact from a combination of revenue deferrals due to Windows 10 upgrades and restructuring charges.

"Organizations using digital technology to transform and drive new growth increasingly choose Microsoft as a partner", said Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the company's core businesses, sales of the Windows operating system to PC makers and the Office productivity suite, have been in decline, though one not as steep as the beleaguered PC market would suggest.

The annualised revenue run rate for commercial cloud was more than $10 billion, with the firm well on its way to achieving its $20 billion target for its 2018 financial year. Phone revenues were down a hefty 46 per cent from a year ago.

Phone revenue dropped 47% to $746 million and the number of units sold plunged 73% to 2.3 million phones sold. Microsoft is thanking the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book for that timely boost.

Despite Azure revenue growing by 120% in constant currency and usage of both Azure Compute and Azure SQL database more than doubling year-over-year, this is actually a decline from 140% growth from the last quarter. 35 percent of search revenue in March was driven by Windows 10, indicating that the Bing and Cortana integration in Windows 10 is yielding dividends. Xbox Live monthly active users rose to 46 million at a growth rate of 26 percent.

Truly, this is a case of "how far have the mighty fallen", as Nokia has seen itself decline from being a worldwide leader in the mobile phone space, to merely a Southeast Asian power in emerging markets, to selling its phone business to Microsoft, to Microsoft reporting rapidly declining phone sales stats for its Lumias.

Source: Microsoft Q3 2016 Earnings Report Shows Windows Phone Drop, Surface Rise

Future of Microsoft's Phone Business in Question After Lumia Sales Plummet

Shares of Microsoft dropped as much as 5 percent in after-hours trading as the software giant announced weaker-than-expected earnings figures for the first quarter of 2016, with Microsoft blaming higher-than-expected taxes. It made a net profit of $3.8 billion on $20.5 billion revenue, which actually represents a drop year-on-year.

Microsoft's cloud platform Azure is one of the mainstays in CEO Satya Nadella's growth strategy, where the cloud platform is fighting fiercely with rivals Google and Amazon Web Services (AWS). Office commercial and cloud services like Office 365 spiked 7 per cent this quarter, while consumer versions of Office went up 6 per cent. Surface Pro 4 and the Surface Book helped drive a 61 percent increase in Microsoft's Surface revenue.

Microsoft said that its Intelligent Cloud segment, which includes its lineup of Azure public cloud services, posted a revenue increase of 3% to $6.1 billion.

But Microsoft's cloud business did not grow quite fast enough during its last quarter to keep investors happy.

Going ahead, Microsoft is looking for revenue in the band of $6.5 to $6.7 billion in its Productivity and business process division.

Azure revenue is up 120 percent in constant currency, and Microsoft says that Azure computer and SQL database usage more than doubled year-over-year.

The slow global PC market has also hit Microsoft. Microsoft Office emerged to be a standout performer in the segment after revenue from the consumer product increased 3%. These predictions seem to have come true for this quarter and they're likely to hold in the year ahead.Microsoft's quarterly profit has missed analysts' estimates as a continued slump in personal computer sales hurt the company's core Windows business.

Microsoft lowered revenue guidance for Q4 to $21.4 billion from $22.4 billion, pushing it below the analyst forecast of $23.1 billion.

Pay attention to which of Microsoft's businesses are making more money and which are making less. However, the company missed those marks by significant margins, posting instead only 47 cents per share in earnings and revenue of $20.5 billion. Middling sales and lack of a market push for the Lumia 650, Lumia 950, and Lumia 950 XL are not suprpringly resulting in a lower market share for Windows Phone.

Microsoft states that Windows 10 is now active on over 270 million devices. Meanwhile, rumors that it is developing a Surface phone to launch later this year continue to circulate, although hardware doesn't appear to be the company's biggest problem in mobile.

Source: Future of Microsoft's Phone Business in Question After Lumia Sales Plummet

Microsoft Windows hurt by PC sales slump

Microsoft said Lumia sales plummeted more than 70 percent year-over-year in its third fiscal quarter to just 2.3 million.

Chief executive Satya Nadella said Microsoft was pursuing its shift to business and cloud computing services.

Revenues from the company's Azure platform grew by 120 per cent in constant currency, while Azure compute and Azure SQL database use also more than doubled.

Revenue in Microsoft's intelligent cloud business, which includes the Azure cloud infrastructure and services business as well as products such as server software, rose 3.3 per cent to US$6.1 billion in the quarter. Last month, Microsoft said that 270 million active devices run the new operating system, though many of those are free upgrades. Research firm Gartner said that PC shipment worldwide has declined 9.6% on the YoY basis in the first quarter.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)'s March quarter (F3Q2016) bucked the recent trend in its Intelligent Cloud segment where Azure cloud belongs.

Windows OEM was also down by 2% though the company said that it still outperformed the PC market.

Operating profit at the productivity and business processes group, which includes its Office software, dropped 7 per cent. Revenue grew 1 per cent to $6.5 billion.

However Microsoft's Surface products saw huge growth, up 61 percent compared to previous year and bringing in $1.1 billion revenue. Its cloud services are driving growth, while traditional parts of the company's business are shrinking alongside the PC market.

The vendor now has around 85,000 transacting partners selling the cloud based Office suite to small customers and as a result its revenue from that product line increased.

However, Surface revenue increased by 61% y-o-y growing from $713 million in Q3 2015 to $1.11 billion in Q3 2016.

Office 365's growth is an important metric because Microsoft is working hard to upsell those customers to other cloud services. However, Office 365 grew 70 per cent in constant currency in the period before.

Revenue at the software giant fell to $20.53bn from $21.73bn, lower than the $22.09bn analysts had expected.

In relation to its Xbox division, the company said monthly active users rose 26 percent compared to past year to 46 million users, however the company failed to mention the fact that MAUs fell quarter on quarter by 2 million.

This can be balanced out by arguing that Microsoft hasn't been focusing too heavily on smartphones, and the lack of a new flagship Windows Phone since the launch of Windows 10 a year ago still feels like a big gap that needs to be filled, though such a device still remains out of sight.

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Source: Microsoft Windows hurt by PC sales slump

Mammoth Windows 10 Insider preview adds new Anniversary Update features galore

This is your first chance to try out some of Microsoft's Anniversary Update features. The only drawback? "Rough edges." Run this on a test PC.

If you're a member of Microsoft's Windows 10 Insider program, today is like Christmas. Build 14328 of Windows 10 for PCs and Windows phones packs Anniversary Update features like Windows Ink, changes to the Action Center, and better battery life into what's probably the largest Insider update ever. Get ready to freak out. 

Though Microsoft stuffed tons of updates into this new build, some should feel familiar. Bugs halted the deployment of Windows 10 Mobile build 14322 to PCs, for example, but its updates to the Action Center and other improvements have now been added. This is also your first chance to experience several Anniversary Update features due this summer, including Windows Ink and Cortana on the Windows 10 lock screen. 

But Microsoft has also tweaked virtually every element of the Windows 10 interface: the Start menu, the Action Center, the lock screen, the taskbar, and the Settings menu have all been revamped in some way. And if you have a Connected Standby-capable PC like a Microsoft Surface, expect better battery life as well.

Yes, you do need these stinkin' badges: the updated Taskbar in Build 14328 includes "badges" that provide more information about UWP apps.

There's just one catch: as experienced Insiders know, many features mean many bugs. Microsoft explicitly warned that the new build contains code "with very little stabillization," meaning that the new build, available to Fast Ring subscribers, will likely have issues. You might want to test this on a secondary, non-essential PC. 

Why this matters: As Microsoft prepares to release its Anniversary Update this summer, Windows 10 Insiders are getting a chance to try out and help debug some of Microsoft's new features. Just to be clear, though—this is not the Anniversary Update itself; additional new features will be shipped as part of future builds, a Microsoft spokeswoman said via email.

Further reading: How to join Windows 10's Insider preview

Windows Ink: Workspace, Sketchpad, Sticky Notes and more

Windows has always been at the forefront of making human–computing interaction more natural, and the digital pen is the next iteration of that, Li-Chen Miller, group program manager for the Ink team, explained as part of Microsoft's introduction to Windows Ink.

The Windows 10 Windows Ink Workspace. (What a mouthful!)

In a sense, Ink is a recognition that Microsoft has bundled a pen with the Surface Book and Surface Pro 3 and 4—but there hasn't been that much to do with it. That's changed completely with the creation of a Windows Ink Workspace within Windows 10. Click the pen icon on the toolbar—or the button on top of the Surface Pen, on a new PC—and Windows 10 will launch the Windows Ink Workspace, a collection of pen-enabled apps that will appear as a right-hand nav bar on your Windows desktop. If you don't have an active pen but your PC has a touchscreen, you can right-click the taskbar and enable finger-inking. 

There are new Settings specific to the pen, too.

Within the Workspace, apps like Sketchpad provide a new twist on existing apps like Fresh Paint, but with the digital ruler functionality Microsoft showed at Build. Screen Sketch lets you draw on a full-sized screen capture, a la Microsoft Edge. Sticky Notes allow you to draw your own reminders—which will eventually be sucked into Cortana, too. Finally, Microsoft revamped the pen Settings menu and is even building out a pen-optimized subset of the Windows Store.

For more information about Windows Ink, check out this video:

Source: Mammoth Windows 10 Insider preview adds new Anniversary Update features galore

Weak Lumia sales prove Microsoft should put an end to Windows 10 Mobile

It is hard to take Windows 10 Mobile seriously when Microsoft announces sales of just 2.3 million Lumias in a whole quarter. If you ever thought that the platform can actually be competitive in today's market, now is the time to wake up. This year, smartphones sales are expected to reach 1.5 billion units. If Microsoft manages to move 10 million Lumias in 2016, Windows 10 Mobile's market share would likely be around the one percent mark.

Microsoft is not the only Windows Phone/Windows 10 Mobile vendor, but it is the largest by far. It sells about 90 percent of the smartphones running the tiled operating system, so its performance has a major impact on the platform's popularity.

In the same period of 2015, the company sold 8.6 million Lumias. That equates to a 73.25 percent drop in sales year-over-year, which is a clear indicator that consumers are simply not interested in buying Windows phones.

Compared to the previous quarter, when Microsoft sold 4.5 million Lumias, the drop does not look quite as bad, although we are still looking at a 48.88 percent decline. Regardless, 4.5 million units sold in what should be the best quarter of the year is more evidence that, in the grand scheme of things, Windows 10 Mobile really has no future.

In its latest earnings report, for Q1 2016/Q3 FY2016, Microsoft says that phone revenue dropped by 46 percent (in constant currency) for the quarter compared to a year prior. In fact, the company posted weaker than expected figures for the whole quarter: $22.07 billion in revenue, $6.82 billion operating income, $4.97 billion net income and $0.62 earnings per share (all non-GAAP figures). Analysts expected the company to reveal $22.09 billion in revenue and earnings per share of $0.64.

A year prior, Microsoft posted $21.72 billion in revenue, $6.78 billion in operating income, $5.1 billion in net income and $0.62 earnings per share. You can read our coverage of its Q3 FY2015 here. Here are some of the highlights from Microsoft's latest earnings report.

Microsoft says that it now has 22.2 million Office 365 consumer subscribers, which helped Office consumer products and cloud services see a six percent rise in revenue in constant currency. Revenue for Office 365 is up 63 percent in constant currency on the commercial side, while commercial Office products and cloud services revenue is up seven percent. Microsoft says that the number of "Office 365 commercial seats" grew by 57 percent year over year.

Azure revenue is up 120 percent in constant currency, and Microsoft says that Azure computer and SQL database usage more than doubled year-over-year. Revenue from server products and cloud services is up five percent in constant currency, while the number of Enterprise Mobility customers more than doubled to 27,000 and the installed base nearly quadrupled year over year.

Windows OEM revenue is down two percent in constant currency, but Microsoft says this performance is actually better than that of the PC market as a whole. Surface revenue is, however, up 61 percent in constant currency, thanks to Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book. The same cannot be said about Xbox hardware revenue, which declined in the quarter thanks to fewer Xbox 360 sales and lower Xbox One prices.

Photo credit: StockStudio / Shutterstock

Source: Weak Lumia sales prove Microsoft should put an end to Windows 10 Mobile

Windows Phone sales are in freefall

The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.47, a 25% drop from the same quarter a year ago.

Revenue from the company's Office 365 productivity subscription service was up 63 percent, and consumer subscribers to Office 365 reached 22.2 million, according to the company.

While the company's cloud services and Office 365 revenues grew at a decent rate, the revenue from Intelligent Cloud, which houses the Azure cloud, only grew revenue by 3%, up 8% in constant currency, to $6.1bn. Improved profit margins were driven by lower expenses in Microsoft's phone business, which the company scaled back drastically previous year, and sales of Surface portable devices.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected Microsoft to report adjusted earnings per share of 64 cents and sales of $22.09 billion.

Enterprise Mobility customers more than doubled to over 27,000, and the installed base grew almost 4x.

But investors reacted negatively, driving Microsoft shares down to $51.78 from Thursday's close of $55.78. Surface revenue accounted for $1.1 billion in Q1, representing 54% YoY growth from $713 million in Q1 2015.

Without the currency impact, revenue for the company was $22.1 billion (up 5%), earnings $0.62 (up 3%), operating income $6.8 billion (up 10%), and net income $5 billion (up 6%), but failed to do so.

With the PC market in what appears to be continual decline, and Windows Phone sales adding up to a vanishingly small percentage of the overall market, Satya Nadella's decision to push hard into the cloud and to effectively decouple Office from Windows looks ever more effective. The company's latest operating system software was released at the end of July and is now on running on more than 270 million devices, the company said last month. Microsoft said its Azure business rose by 120%, in constant-currency terms, without disclosing an actual revenue figure.

Even some of the losses are positive, such as the fact that Windows OEM revenue declined 2 percent.

Revenue in the Productivity and Business Processes segment grew 1 per cent (up 6 per cent in constant currency) to US$6.5 billion.

Sales were impacted by the ever-shrinking PC market and, again, the impact of the strong dollar.

Xbox Live subscribers grew to 46 million monthly active users, up 26% from the year prior. Microsoft said it was able to outperform the PC market because of a "higher consumer premium device mix".

Search revenue was up significantly, growing by 18 percent in constant currency, thanks to both higher revenue per search and higher search volume.

Source: Windows Phone sales are in freefall

Microsoft's doing well, but Lumia smartphone sales are tanking

Microsoft has unveiled its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2016, reporting a net income of $3.8 billion (€3.3 billion) and revenues of $20.5 billion (€18.1 billion). Largely driven by offerings like Office 365 and Dynamics CRM and ERP, the company's Productivity and Business Processes segment generated $6.5 billion in sales, a 1 percent year-over-year increase, or 6 percent using constant currency calculations that account for currency fluctuations. Gartner and the International Data Corporation both recorded steep declines in the global PC market in the 2016 first quarter.

The company also reported a 61 per cent gain in revenue for Surface, the company's branded tablet system, fueled by the introduction of Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book.

"We're seeing great traction with businesses who want to bring Microsoft's cloud, mobile device management technology and data analytics together to improve security and productivity resulting in nearly 70% year-over-year growth in our commercial cloud run rate", Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft, said in a news release. Office consumer products and cloud services grew by 6% in constant currency, with Office 365 consumer subscribers increasing to 22.2 million in number. "The intelligent cloud" chiefly comprises Microsoft's products and services under the Cloud & Enterprise domain, including Windows Server, SQL Server, System Center, Azure, and Enterprise Services.

But Windows OEM sales dropped 2%. Intelligent Cloud revenue growth is slowing, and phone hardware revenue was almost cut in half as well. Meanwhile, Office 365 is becoming a growing platform for developers, as are other parts of the business such as Skype, he said.

However, revenue in the More Personal Computing group grew just 1pc.

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) reported results that fell short of analysts' expectations, showing its high-profile cloud business can not quite make up for weakness in its core PC market.

This morning (Friday) the trend continued, with the Microsoft stock price opening down 6.7% from Thursday's close of $55.78. However, the company missed those marks by significant margins, posting instead only 47 cents per share in earnings and revenue of $20.5 billion. Microsoft Office emerged to be a standout performer in the segment after revenue from the consumer product increased 3%.

Microsoft only sold 2.3 million Lumia phones last quarter.

As expected, Microsoft's Windows business suffered from the 11.5% drop in PC sales.

Fallout 4's 1.5 Update Is Now Available In Steam BetaWe hope to add Support for Mods to the 1.5 Steam Beta soon with console support for Mods coming in updates that follow. It should also soon have support for official Bethesda.net mods, though this isn't now available in the beta.

Source: Microsoft's doing well, but Lumia smartphone sales are tanking

Microsoft Q3 2016 Earnings Report Shows Windows Phone Drop, Surface Rise

Adjusted revenue during the quarter, the third of Microsoft's 2016 fiscal year, was $22.1 billion, meeting analysts' expectations. And this quarter, the Redmond giant has missed analyst estimates, recording $22.1 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of $0.62 billion against the Wall Street expectations of $22.09 billion revenue and $0.64 EPS.

Microsoft's chief executive Satya Nadella has focused on developing the company's cloud business since he took over in early 2014, with his "mobile first, cloud first" strategy.

Similar to Azure, Office 365 continued to grow, reaching 22.2 million consumer subscribers, up from 12.4 million a year earlier. Microsoft last month said 270 million active devices run the new version, though many of those are free upgrades that bring no revenue.

Windows OEM revenue is down two percent in constant currency, but Microsoft says this performance is actually better than that of the PC market as a whole.

Revenue for the Intelligent Cloud segment should come in between $6.5 billion and $6.7 billion.

Revenue in its cloud business, which includes Azure, rose 3.3% to $6.1bn, but operating profits at the division shrank 14%.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)'s March quarter (F3Q2016) bucked the recent trend in its Intelligent Cloud segment where Azure cloud belongs.

But Microsoft reported gains for its Office software and in business cloud computing, including a 120 per cent revenue surge for its Azure cloud platform for enterprises.

Cloud-based and digital transformation-related services are making strong contributions to Microsoft's bottom line, while its PC sales have proven to be a drag and Windows Phone revenues are crashing, the company reported yesterday.

Going ahead, Microsoft is looking for revenue in the band of $6.5 to $6.7 billion in its Productivity and business process division.

Microsoft's mobile revenue therefore fell by as much as 46 per cent Still, the company saw growth from Surfaces.

A particular bright spot was Surface revenue, which grew 61pc during the quarter. That's a massive 73% drop from the same quarter a year ago, when the company sold 8.6 million phones. Improved profit margins were driven by lower expenses in Microsoft's phone business, which the company scaled back drastically past year, and sales of Surface portable devices.

The company did reveal some growth on the Xbox side of things, recording a 26% year-on-year rise in Xbox Live users, to 46 million.

Source: Microsoft Q3 2016 Earnings Report Shows Windows Phone Drop, Surface Rise

Future of Microsoft's Phone Business in Question After Lumia Sales Plummet

Yet many of its customers still buy the old way, and it's those clients that are paring purchases as they deal with a sluggish economy, Hood said.

Revenue from business software and Internet-based services, known as cloud computing, didn't grow as much as many analysts expected. Before this report, Nadella had been posting better-than-projected results, fuelling a 31 per cent gain in the stock in the past year.

In a sign that Microsoft is still finding its way in the post-PC era, the tech giant reported a surprise drop in quarterly sales and profit. Analysts on average had expected a profit of 64 cents per share on revenue of US$22.09 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Net income declined to US$3.76 billion, or 47 cents a share. Meanwhile, Office 365 is becoming a growing platform for developers, as are other parts of the business such as Skype, he said. Without this "catch-up adjustment", Microsoft would have beaten analysts' profit projections, she said. During its fiscal third quarter, Windows 10 continued to benefit Bing, as Microsoft's search advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs rose 18% on a constant currency basis. Dynamics CRM Online seats more than doubled from the same quarter past year.

In yesterday's earnings report, Microsoft noted that the company was at a $10 billion annualized "run rate" for its cloud businesses.

The persistent weakness in one-time software purchases and the shifting tax rate shows the transition Nadella is attempting - away from the PC market and these kinds of sales - will be neither simple nor short.

Microsoft continues its trend of reporting its financial results under three categories- Productivity and Business Processes (PBP), which includes Office and Office 365 (commercial and consumer); Intelligent Cloud(IC) division that includes Azure cloud, services, and non-cloud related servers; and the biggest division, i.e., More Personal Computing (MPC), which contains Windows, Devices, Gaming and Search.

In the segment that includes Microsoft's popular Office productivity software franchise, sales rose 1% to $6.52 billion-but profit declined 6.6%. Earnings per share are "closer to 66 cents when you take out the tax", Ms. Hood said in an interview.

The quarter was an abysmal one for worldwide personal-computer shipments, which slid to their lowest quarterly total since 2007, according to market researcher Gartner Inc.

"As these organizations turn to us, we're seeing momentum across Microsoft's cloud services and with Windows 10". Office 365 added 1.6 million subscribers to reach 22.2 million with revenues climbing by almost 63%. Still, Windows revenue from computer makers declined 2% in constant currency.

"In response to enterprise customer demand, and to increase our share in the cloud market, we grew operating expenses by 13% through Azure-focused investments across engineering, additional sales and marketing capacity and the acquisition of Xamarin", Hood said.

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Source: Future of Microsoft's Phone Business in Question After Lumia Sales Plummet

Microsoft Sees Growth in Surface as Windows Phone Continues to Fall

Shaky Windows OEM and phone sales aside, the unit did log $9.5 billion in sales, the largest amount of sales logged for a specific unit, even if the sales growth was tiny (1%).

During the fiscal 2016 third quarter, the company's executives said that the intelligent cloud segment garnered an increase of 3.3% to $6.1 billion in revenue compared to the year ago period.

Cloud strength was the big positive in the earnings with revenue from office commercial as well as cloud services growing 7% while, consumer office grew 6% helping Microsoft reach 22.2 million office 365 subscriptions.

In all, the cloud continues to be the highlight of Microsoft's figures, though the lack of specific detail will no doubt continue to frustrate Steve Ballmer. We also expect growing contributions from Microsoft's Azure cloud platform to offset weaknesses in other businesses.

The company in part blamed a higher-than-expected tax rate for the lower net income. Later on, he summed up Microsoft's message: "In this world, what matters most is the mobility of a person's experience, not any one single device", he said. Not to be outdone by Office, Dynamics CRM Online has seen its seats more than double year-over-year, and 80% of new CRM customers are choosing the cloud version. Without the currency impact, revenue for the company was $22.1 billion (up 5%), earnings $0.62 (up 3%), operating income $6.8 billion (up 10%), and net income $5 billion (up 6%), but failed to do so. But if investors begin to get cold feet, you might see Microsoft push Windows 10 more aggressively to keep its numbers up.

The PC is the most frequently used device to access Microsoft services, Verto found, with 195.6 million monthly users. Microsoft attributed the outperformance to consumers opting for higher-cost, premium PCs.

That's the fiscal year after Microsoft's current fiscal year. Bing powers Microsoft's digital personal assistant, Cortana, which is bundled directly into the Windows 10 taskbar.

For the fiscal 2016 third quarter, officials said that Microsoft's commercial cloud run rate hit $10 billion annually. As a tidbit, they said that 35% of search revenue in the month of March was on Windows 10 devices. If that fails, then a third-party Windows 10 PC will suffice.

E5 refers to Microsoft's Office 365 Enterprise E5, the company's new corporate plan for Office 365 that increased both the capabilities and the price of the enterprise version.

Productivity and Business Processes revenue was $6.5 billion, up 1 percent year on year, with operating income of $3.0 billion, down 7 percent.

Sales of Microsoft's hardware contracted, with its device revenue falling 9% on a constant currency basis.

The company also reported a 61 per cent gain in revenue for Surface, the company's branded tablet system, fueled by the introduction of Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book.

Xbox live monthly active users grew 26% year-over-year to 46 million.

The markets have taken note of these disappointing results though, and the company's stock took a dive after earnings were posted.

Sam Mattera has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Microsoft's Bing homepage provides a bit of revenue to Microsoft, but it also drives users to oher Microsoft-owned properties. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.

Source: Microsoft Sees Growth in Surface as Windows Phone Continues to Fall

Mozo teases upcoming real wood covers for Lumia 950 and 950 XL

Mozo Accessories is not done yet with making products for Microsoft's Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL. The company is teasing the upcoming launch of a cover for those Windows 10 Mobile phones with real wood.

The post was made on Mozo's Facebook page (via TheWinDoze), with the company stating the covers will be made of "real wood and rubber paint." Pricing and a release date for the cases has not yet been announced, but we will post up the news when Moze reveals that info.

Source: Mozo teases upcoming real wood covers for Lumia 950 and 950 XL

Microsoft’s Windows Phone is dying a rapid death

Microsoft's latest quarterly earnings report has highlighted just how screwed Windows Phones are.

Over the last three months Microsoft sold only 2.3 million Lumia smartphones, a massive 73 percent drop when compared to the same period last year. Looking at the quarter before last, Lumia sales experienced a drop of 54 percent.

This correlates with Gartner's smartphone statistics for the last quarter of last year, where it noted that Microsoft's Windows Phones only managed to claim 1.1% market share, and sold only 4.3 million phones. For comparison, 325 million Android phones were sold to end-users in Q4 2015, while Apple's iOS-powered devices enjoyed 71 million sales.

For those of you with a keen business mind, those numbers don't bode well for the Lumia brand or Windows Phone's long-term survival.

But fear not, while Windows Phones are seemingly in a freefall into oblivion, the earnings report showed that many other parts of Microsoft's business have remained profitable, and impressively so.

The company's Surface tablet (which is still not yet available in South Africa) increased its revenue by 61 percent as demand for the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book increased, and Xbox Live's monthly active users grew 26 percent year-on-year to 46 million subscribers.

"Organisations using digital technology to transform and drive new growth increasingly choose Microsoft as a partner. As these organisations turn to us, we're seeing momentum across Microsoft's cloud services and with Windows 10," said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer at Microsoft.

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Source: Microsoft's Windows Phone is dying a rapid death

Microsoft only sold 2.3 million Lumia phones over the last three months

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Source: Microsoft only sold 2.3 million Lumia phones over the last three months

Microsoft Q3 2016 earnings: even surging Surface sales can’t save the company’s devices division from Windows Phone

Igor Bonifacic

April 21, 2016 5:16pm

Microsoft today announced its fiscal Q3 2016 earnings. For the three months ending March 31, the company reported a net income of $3.7-billion on revenue of $20.53-billion, leading it to miss analyst expectations.

According to Thomson Reuters, most analysts expected Microsoft to report $22.09-billion in revenue, and earnings of 64 cents per share.

Windows Phone was the main culprit for the company's weaker than expected quarter.

In Q3 2016, Microsoft only sold 2.3-million Windows Phone devices, a drastic drop from the 8.6-million units it sold in Q3 2015. As a result, revenue derived from Windows Phone sales declined by $662-million or by 47 percent year over year.

In fact, Windows Phone performance was so poor it managed to skew the overall performance of the company's entire devices division; revenue derived from the company's devices division declined by 9 percent year on year.

However, while Windows Phone as a platform continues to be a pariah for the company, many of Microsoft's other divisions showed continued growth.

In particular, continued strong sales of the company's Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book devices led to Surface revenue increasing to $1.1-billion in Q3 2016, a 61 percent increase from the same period last year.

Moreover, despite the relatively weak performance of the Xbox One compared to Sony's PlayStation 4, the number of Xbox Live users increased by 26 percent year over year to 46-million. The company's search platform, Bing, also continued to grow, as revenue derived from search advertising increased by 18 percent.

Source: Microsoft Q3 2016 earnings: even surging Surface sales can't save the company's devices division from Windows Phone