Microsoft Earns $0.60 a Share, Revenue Comes in at $17.4B

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Microsoft Earns $0.60 a Share, Revenue Comes in at $17.4B

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced its earnings for the first three months of 2012 today. The company revealed that in the period up to March it earned 60 cents per share. Revenues in the same period were announced at $17.4B.

Analysts had been expecting earnings of 57 cents per share on revenues of $17.18 billion. That estimate has fallen during the quarter. In the first quarter of 2011 the company announced earnings per share of 56 cents and revenue of $16.43 billion.

The numbers are a prelude to a very important few months coming up for the company. This year sees the release of the company’s Windows 8 operating system and hopes for the company to finally come of age in the tablet and smart phone market. Up until now the company has had no success in the market. Windows 8 will be available later this year on both Intel and AMD powered tablets.

The launch of its Windows 7.5 software has been well received critically as has the OS’s flagship phone the Nokia Lumia 900. Sales of that device have not been as good as had been expected and Microsoft will be worried about the future of the software as a result.

Nokia announced its earnings this morning. The company announced a loss of $1.2 billion in the period. Revenue from sales of devices were down 40% year on year. That announcement along will be more important than Microsoft’s as an indicator to the success of the platform.

Despite worries about the company’s flagship product it is still one of the biggest software vendors in the market and will rely on its wide range of products for continued sales. The company’s Office software is still the most important in the market and the company will release a new version, Office 15, later this year.

The Xbox console manufactured by the firm is still selling strongly and more than its competitors. That product is also expected to be updated in the next year in what is heating up to be a huge console war between the three big game companies. The Kinect, the firm’s motion and speech interface technology, is currently rolling out on Windows PCs after strong sales on the Xbox.

Microsoft’s stock has risen over the past thee months a trend the company hope will continue when the market opens tomorrow.

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