Surface pulls in over one billion in revenue for Microsoft as sales increase by 24%

Microsoft is releasing their Q2 Fiscal Year 2015 results, and the numbers are quite good, despite some ominous decreases in revenue (due to sales or acquisitions).

The Surface line has officially crossed the billion dollar mark for revenue demonstrating a 24% growth from the previous quarter. In other words, the big holiday season looks to have been successful in pushing theSurface Pro 3, which drove the growth, into more hands than ever.

The Surface line of tablets that can replace a PC has been criticized since its inception as being a money-losing venture. However, Microsoft looks to be finally making some headway with the Surface Pro 3, which has been well received by critics and increasingly consumers.

The increase in revenue to $1.1 billion in an increase from last quarter's $908 million. Although the increase is not massive, it does show that the Surface still has some legs.

Now that Microsoft is pulling in over a billion in revenue (not profit, mind you), it may be harder for the voices to proclaim that the Surface is a failure. Alternatively, had Microsoft seen stable sales or even a decrease, the story would be very different.

Image & News Courtesy : Windows Central

Microsoft reports FY15 Q2 results, generated $26.5 billion in revenue

Microsoft has reported its earnings for its second fiscal quarter of 2015 ending on December 31. Overall, the company brought in a total of $26.5 billion in revenue. That's compared to $24.5 billion in revenue from the same period a year ago.

Windows Phone rev is down but Lumia sales top 10 million for the holiday

Microsoft's FY2015 numbers for Q2 are just going up, and the numbers for Windows Phones are a bit complicated.

Revenue itself for Windows Phone is down a massive 61% from the last quarter. However, before we declare everything a failure for Microsoft, they explain away that number from the loss of $650 million from Nokia. The agreement had Nokia paying Microsoft per quarter, but that venture has since terminated. In other words, since Microsoft took over the Nokia mobile division, it can no longer collect that lump sum of money since they are now their own customer.

Interestingly, Lumia phone sales are up, both for year-over-year and sequentially from last quarter.

Microsoft sold 10.5 million Lumias driven "primarily by sales of affordable smartphones". By comparison, Microsoft sold 9.3 million Lumias last quarter, gaining 1.2 million more in sales over the holiday season.

Microsoft's numbers are not impressive when compared to Google or Apple. However considering the gap between Windows 8.1 to Windows 10, and the lack of a new flagship Lumia this holiday these numbers suggest that Windows Phone is not yet entirely dead. Indeed, Q2 FY 2015 could be understood as one of the worst case scenarios for Microsoft and yet they managed to forge ahead.

Assuming Microsoft can hold onto to these numbers until the release of Windows 10 and new flagship hardware, Windows Phone is still in the race.

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central

8-inch and larger Windows 10 tablets only will have the desktop [updated]

Update: Belfiore took to Twitter once again to clarify that existing 7-inch devices will still be able to keep the desktop and take advantage of Continuum (thanks to everyone who tipped us on this).

Even after the recent Windows 10 event and the quantity of new information we received, there are still questions to be asked. Microsoft's Joe Belfiore has clarified in a Twitter conversation which devices will see the desktop with Windows 10.

"@marypcbuk @jackschofield @ExNokian @sbisson @dinabass 8" & up = "desktop" w/ win32 apps. < 8" = phones, phablets, sm tablets. No dsktp."

A little clarity, certainly. So it looks like there will be plenty of tablets able to act as a mini-desktop machine. While we weren't exactly expecting phones to have it, it clears up this particular question concerning the 7-inch tablet form factor.

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central