Microsoft profits jump but Xbox down
Microsoft Windows 7 sales up despite the announcement of a new operating system due out in the fall.
Microsoft reported stronger-than-expected revenues on Friday, up six percent from the previous quarter.
The announcement comes at the heels of the unveiling of Windows 8, which is expected in stores next fall alongside a Windows tablet computer.
Microsoft reported revenues of $17.41 billion in the past quarter though down 2.8 percent from last year from $5.23 billion to $5.11 billion, said Mashable.
While sales of business-related products were up, the company has taken a hit with a 16 percent decline in Xbox sales.
The gain in Windows Live sales last quarter was mostly due to a rise in business purchases of PC computers.
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"The business PC is what really drove the Windows business," said Peter Klein, Microsoft's chief financial officer Thursday, according to CIO.
Microsoft has been slow to react to the growing market for tablets and the shrinking market for personal computers.
The release of its tablet computer in the fall is seen by some analysts as a turning point for the company whose stock has fallen in recent years.
“The industry is excited as they almost always are around an OS launch,” NPD analyst Stephen Baker said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
“The Windows ecosystem is saying, ‘This is our opportunity to kind of get back in the game."
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