Enterprise PC spending helps boost Microsoft sales

A rebound in business and consumer PC spending helped to drive Microsoft’s revenues up 6% to $14.5 billion in its most recent financial quarter.

Sales at the software giant’s operating system division rose 28% to $4.4 billion, thanks to increased shipments of its latest OS, Windows 7. These sales grew 35% on the consumer side and 15% in the enterprise space. “Business customers are beginning to refresh their desktops and the momentum of Windows 7 continues to be strong,” said chief operating officer Kevin Turner.

This effect was counterbalanced by more modest performances in the company’s Server and Tools division, where sales grew 2%, and its Business Software arm, where sales dropped 6%. Clearly, business IT spending has yet to rebound in all categories.

Turner said that the company is seeing "tremendous interest in our market-leading cloud services for business”. The company did not provide specific revenue figures for its cloud-based software platform Azure, however.

Windows 7 has almost single-handedly propped up Microsoft’s financial performances since its release towards the end of last year. After a twenty-year run of consistent growth, the company suffered three consecutive quarters of declining revenues at the height of the global recession.

Peter Done

Peter Done is managing director of Peninsula Business Services, the personnel and employment law consultancy he set up having already built a successful betting shop business.

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