4 ms·

A couple of interesting things popped out to me. Microsoft is surprisingly diversified. It's nice to see their entertainment division has been successful--that

by tikhonj 15y ago

A couple of interesting things popped out to me. Microsoft is surprisingly diversified. It's nice to see their entertainment division has been successful--that's my favorite part of Microsoft (outside Microsoft Research, of course). I wonder if we'll see a separate, significant mobile category in the future. Apple makes a larger amount of money off iOS and less off OS X than I expected. I guess I just see a disproportionate amount of Apple computers around (mostly owned by college students). Google wasn't surprising at all. Of course, this says more about me than Google: I follow Google much more closely than Microsoft or Apple (I actually use Google's products, unlike the other two). It would have been nice to see Amazon here as well. They've been trying some new things; I wonder how it's been working. (But not enough to go look myself :p.) It'll be interesting to see Facebook in the future too.

jedberg 15y ago
Right now Facebook looks just like Google -- almost all the revenue comes from display ads (it's in their S1). And the thing with MS that really blows my mind is that they lost 8 billion dollars on the entertainment division before it became profitable. Imagine if that had been it's own startup -- it would have never made it as far as it has, because they would have run out of money long before ever being profitable. So in hindsight, we have to give credit to MS for sticking with it for so long.
- omh 15y ago
  So in hindsight, we have to give credit to MS for sticking with it for so long Perhaps we should wait to see whether it ever pays back that 8 billion dollars before giving them any credit?
  - hollerith 15y ago
    The main value Microsoft derives from the Xbox business is not the profit they make from it, but rather the insurance policy it represents against disruption of the PC market by the console market. It turns out that the console market never did expand enough to disrupt the PC market (the way tablets are currently threatening to do) but when Microsoft spent that 8 billion, they could not have known that.
- doomlaser 15y ago
  A small but significant chunk (around 15% I believe) of Facebook's revenue comes from purchases of in-app Farmville currency. I personally think this is kind of icky.
saturdaysaint 15y ago
"Microsoft is surprisingly diversified." That was my immediate takeaway, but I wonder how meaningful this portrayed diversification is in the face of their present competition. I think a better comparison would show MS being %97 "licensed software", Apple being %97 "hardware" and Google being %97 advertising. "Licensed software" is arguably the most vulnerable of the three models.
- recoiledsnake 15y ago
  >"Licensed software" is arguably the most vulnerable of the three models. Why is that? A big chunk of that seems to be from Server & Tools which doesn't seem to be under immediate threat.
bedris 15y ago
It would have been nice to see Amazon here as well. According to their SEC filing, Amazon's sales were 87.5% from products and 12.5% from services. Link: http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/displayfilinginfo.aspx?FilingID=8367310-166118-170928&type=sect&dcn=0001193125-12-032846 http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/displayfilinginfo.aspx?F...
brudgers 15y ago
>"I wonder if we'll see a separate, significant mobile category in the future." Doubtful in the short of medium term. Microsoft has more or less abandoned the concept of mobile as a discreet ecosystem when it went from Windows Phone to WP7. Now mobile is just another end user facing part of the Windows franchise. The same thing has happened to Hotmail and other parts of Windows Live. This past year they were moved out of Online Services Division.

by tikhonj 15y ago

jedberg 15y ago

Right now Facebook looks just like Google -- almost all the revenue comes from display ads (it's in their S1). And the thing with MS that really blows my mind is that they lost 8 billion dollars on the entertainment division before it became profitable. Imagine if that had been it's own startup -- it would have never made it as far as it has, because they would have run out of money long before ever being profitable. So in hindsight, we have to give credit to MS for sticking with it for so long.

omh 15y ago
So in hindsight, we have to give credit to MS for sticking with it for so long Perhaps we should wait to see whether it ever pays back that 8 billion dollars before giving them any credit?
- hollerith 15y ago
  The main value Microsoft derives from the Xbox business is not the profit they make from it, but rather the insurance policy it represents against disruption of the PC market by the console market. It turns out that the console market never did expand enough to disrupt the PC market (the way tablets are currently threatening to do) but when Microsoft spent that 8 billion, they could not have known that.
doomlaser 15y ago
A small but significant chunk (around 15% I believe) of Facebook's revenue comes from purchases of in-app Farmville currency. I personally think this is kind of icky.

saturdaysaint 15y ago

"Microsoft is surprisingly diversified." That was my immediate takeaway, but I wonder how meaningful this portrayed diversification is in the face of their present competition. I think a better comparison would show MS being %97 "licensed software", Apple being %97 "hardware" and Google being %97 advertising. "Licensed software" is arguably the most vulnerable of the three models.

recoiledsnake 15y ago
>"Licensed software" is arguably the most vulnerable of the three models. Why is that? A big chunk of that seems to be from Server & Tools which doesn't seem to be under immediate threat.

bedris 15y ago

It would have been nice to see Amazon here as well. According to their SEC filing, Amazon's sales were 87.5% from products and 12.5% from services. Link: http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/displayfilinginfo.aspx?FilingID=8367310-166118-170928&type=sect&dcn=0001193125-12-032846 http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/displayfilinginfo.aspx?F...

brudgers 15y ago

>"I wonder if we'll see a separate, significant mobile category in the future." Doubtful in the short of medium term. Microsoft has more or less abandoned the concept of mobile as a discreet ecosystem when it went from Windows Phone to WP7. Now mobile is just another end user facing part of the Windows franchise. The same thing has happened to Hotmail and other parts of Windows Live. This past year they were moved out of Online Services Division.