On Microsoft’s campus today, Ballmer held a ‘rally the troops’ type event where they typically go over the quarterly earnings report and attempt to boost/keep the good vibes flowing within the company.
During his internal address, Ballmer stated that Windows is not selling well enough, which shouldn’t come as a major surprise, as the company has blamed just about everything under the sun for the slower adoption of Windows 8.
Other tidbits from the address are that Microsoft is hoping to carry the third quarter momentum into Q4 and that, like many organizations, they will be investing heavily into professional services in the next fiscal quarter. Other obvious talking points included the fact that Windows 8.1 was heavily shaped by user telemetry and was why Microsoft reintroduced the Start button back into Windows 8.
Ever wonder what Microsoft’s top subsidiary was for the past fiscal year? Wonder no more, as for the first time in eight years, the US subsidiary was the top performing entity for Microsoft.
As for the next Surface? The device is currently in testing and will feature ‘typical improvements’ which is likely a spec bump. Internal response to the next gen Surface has been positive.
Microsoft also reiterated that getting Instagram is more important than landing 900,000 apps; it’s clear they know that quality is better than quantity. Considering that the highest level of the food chain wants the app on Windows Phone, you do have to wonder why Facebook/Instagram is holding back.
That’s all of the interesting tidbits that were discussed at the event. It’s clear that Microsoft knows it has a lot of work to do to meet next quarter"s expectations.
Thanks for the tip Anon!