Microsoft Revenue Boosted by Windows 7

From PC World: Thanks largely to the Windows 7 launch, Microsoft on Thursday reported a strong increase in net income and revenue for its second quarter of fiscal 2010.

The company rang up US$6.66 billion in net income, an increase of 60 percent from the same period a year earlier. Revenue totalled $19.02 billion for the quarter ending Dec. 31, a 14 percent increase from the prior year.

Part of the boost came from deferred revenue earned earlier this year, from pre-sales of Windows 7 to PC makers and retailers. This revenue amounted to $1.71 billion.

Even without the deferred revenue, the results were in line with analyst expectations, with second-quarter revenue totaling $17.31 billion, and earnings of $0.60 per share. In a poll of analysts, Thomson Reuters showed an expected revenue of $17.9 billion and earnings per share of $0.59.

This quarter saw the release of Windows 7, of which more than 60 million licenses were sold, the most Windows licenses ever sold in a single quarter, explained Bill Koefoed, Microsoft general manager of investor relations. The company also released Windows Server 2008 R2.

Windows-related sales brought in the largest chunk of revenue, at $6.9 billion, up 72.5 percent from $4 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2009. Server and tools enjoyed a more modest increase, with $3.8 billion in revenue, up from $3.75 billion in the prior year.

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