Microsoft makes less money selling Windows licenses

Microsoft lost almost a quarter of its turnover in the past quarter with the sale of Windows licenses compared to last year. Manufacturers would be holding back in the run-up to the release of Windows 10 next week.

In addition, Microsoft took advantage of the end of support for Windows XP last year, after which many companies purchased new licenses. Microsoft does not mention the number of Windows licenses sold, but reports that sales were 22 percent lower than in the same period last year. Moreover, the shrinking PC market was to blame for this development.

Furthermore, the telephone branch of Microsoft did less well. Although the company sold more Lumia smartphones with 8.4 million devices, the revenues from them decreased. According to Microsoft, this is mainly because consumers are more likely to opt for cheaper Windows Phones, on which they can earn less.

In contrast, Microsoft did well across the board, such as in the tablet and gaming area. Surface sales increased significantly by 117 percent, partly due to the introduction of the Surface 3. Also, with a 27 percent increase, Xbox consoles were in demand and there were more Xbox Live transactions.

Microsoft also reports that the revenue from its online services is on the rise. It fetched more in the US market with its search engine Bing. The search engine’s market share now stands at 20.3 percent. In addition, Microsoft acquired approximately three million additional Office 365 subscribers last quarter. The total is now 15.2 million subscribers.

Microsoft announced that the turnover of the technology giant in the past quarter amounted to 22 billion dollars, currently converted around 20.1 billion euros. The company suffered a loss of $2.1 billion. This was largely due to the significant write-down resulting from the purchase of Nokia’s telephone business, which amounts to $8.4 billion with all additional restructuring.