Nadella: Apps must run on ALL WINDOWS – on PCs, slabs and mobes. The Essential Guide to IT Transformation Analysis Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella talked up the big changes he has in store for the company during a conference call with financial analysts on Tuesday.
Among his plans are "universal" apps that can run on any Windows platform. There was little talk of layoffs, beyond what Nadella and new Microsoft phones boss Stephen Elop discussed last week. Redmond plans to issue pink slips to as many as 18,000 workers in the coming year, most of them from Nokia's manufacturing divisions. Microsoft: We're building ONE TRUE WINDOWS to rule us all. Build a business case: developing custom apps +Analysis Microsoft has cracked open its annual and Q4 results, the first end of year results under brevity-challenged chief executive Satya Nadella.
As befitting such a results event, there was plenty of backslapping and self-congratulatory talk about how Microsoft is turning into a cloud business. But why was Microsoft’s head of PR, Frank X Shaw, so furiously trying to put a positive spin on things via Twitter that he had to be told to shut up and “go home” by one of Bloomberg’s Microsoft watchers covering the results event? Despite all the hype about being a cloud, devices or a consumer company, Microsoft must once again thank enterprise customers for paying their way. Microsoft profit falls 7% on Nokia loss. 22 July 2014Last updated at 18:00 ET Last week, Microsoft said it would lay off 18,000 workers, most of them from its Nokia handset division Technology giant Microsoft reported a 7% fall in profit during the second quarter.
The company said profit during the March to June period was $4.6bn (£2.7bn), compared with $4.97bn during the same period last year. Microsoft's bagging more bucks – but profit flat as Nadella waves axe. Boost IT visibility and business value Microsoft posted solid yet unspectacular results for both the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2014 and the full fiscal year, even as investors brace for new CEO Satya Nadella to lower the axe on as many as 18,000 staffers as part of a restructuring announced earlier this week.
Revenues for the quarter beat analysts' estimates slightly at $23.38bn, a 17.5 per cent gain over the same period a year ago. That brought revenues for the full year to $86.83bn, an 11.5 per cent increase over fiscal 2013. Net income for Q4, on the other hand, was down 7.1 per cent, year-on-year, to $4.61bn. And net income for the full fiscal year was flat, at $22.07bn. Those lackluster profits were reflected in the software giant's earnings, which disappointed at just $0.55 per diluted share.
So whither Microsoft? If Nadella knows, he's keeping it well hidden. Build a business case: developing custom apps Analysis After Microsoft’s biggest jobs bloodbath, we’re still not much wiser about what Microsoft will look like in five years' time.
Steve Ballmer turned the focus from PCs to devices and services: manufacturing its own devices, and promoting its own services regardless of the platform. Satya Nadella was supposed to bring further clarity. Yet apart from pointedly distancing himself from the “devices and services” slogan, he fudged the big questions in a widely-derided piece of waffle. Nadella said nothing, but repetitively and at great length. Putting two contradictions together in the same sentence does not resolve them. No RIF'd Employees Need Apply For Microsoft External Staff Jobs For 6 Months. Microsoft talks up 'next version of Windows' Microsoft's Tony Prophet took a moment Wednesday to expand on a key feature in the next version of Windows at a Microsoft conference.
Prophet, corporate vice president of Windows Marketing, offered a bit more clarity on comments executive Terry Myerson provided at Microsoft's Build Conference in April. "We are hard at work on the next version of Windows," Prophet said at the company's Worldwide Partner Conference taking place in Washington, DC. "And while we have nothing to announce today, I will share with you a couple of features we're thinking about," he said, explaining that the screenshot (above) was originally shown at the Build Conference in April. He began by mentioning that a new Start menu is "better because this one has Live Tiles and modern apps. " His slightly more detailed discussion focused on the desktop. "The second feature we're thinking about is enabling modern apps to run windowed on the desktop versus only running in the immersive full-screen mode.
18,000 job cuts mark new era at Microsoft - LA Times. Microsoft Corp.'s new chief executive has signaled a new era for the company with a heavy finger on the delete key, erasing 18,000 jobs — 14% of the workforce.
Six months into the job, CEO Satya Nadella is targeting a red-tape culture that has rested on former glory. Nadella tries to fix Microsoft’s GM problem - MarketWatch First Take. By David Weidner, MarketWatch Satya Nadella is cleaning up Microsoft after former CEO Steve Ballmer, above, let the software maker fall behind.
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Microsoft Inc. is the General Motors Co. of technology. Years after its once-dominant Office software products had lost their standing, Microsoft /quotes/zigman/20493/delayed/quotes/nls/msft MSFT -0.16% continued to operate as if it couldn’t make a mistake. First under Bill Gates, and more so under Steve Ballmer, the company became bloated, lazy and fat. It grew out of touch with customers. Microsoft Closes Xbox Entertainment Studios. Microsoft to Cut 18,000 Jobs in Major Reorganization. NEW YORK - Microsoft said Thursday it would slash 18,000 jobs from its global workforce over the next year, the majority from the integration of the Nokia unit acquired this year.
A Microsoft statement said the move is part of "a restructuring plan to simplify its operations and align the recently acquired Nokia Devices and Services business with the company's overall strategy. " The cuts represent about 14 percent of Microsoft's global payroll of some 127,000. The company will take a charge of between $1.1 billion and $1.6 billion for costs related to the layoffs. Of the total, some 12,500 professional and factory positions from Nokia "will be eliminated through synergies and strategic alignment," Microsoft said. Chief executive Satya Nadella said in an email to employees that the "difficult but necessary" cuts are part of a plan to bring a new strategic direction to the US tech giant. "The first step to building the right organization for our ambitions is to realign our workforce. Google – an enemy so loathed, Apple and Microsoft are teaming up on search, cloud drives. WWDC Apple has used its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, held this week in San Francisco, to play internet giants against each other.
On Monday, the iPhone maker revealed a pact with Microsoft to make Bing the default web search engine for its desktops and devices – swapping out Google. The change will affect Spotlight in the forthcoming edition of OS X Yosemite (version 10.10) and future editions of iOS for handhelds. The Upcoming Windows 8.1 Apocalypse. Satya Nadella shakes up Microsoft, appoints 'Scroogled' man Mark Penn as strategy chief. Reports have emerged of new senior appointments at Microsoft, events that are being interpreted as new CEO Satya Nadella putting his stamp on the organisation. According to Re/Code and Bloomberg, Mark Penn will soon be confirmed as chief strategy officer. The two outlets also report that Skype supremo Tony Bates and head of marketing Tami Reller will leave Microsoft. Here's what Microsoft's biography of Penn says about the man: “Mark Penn is executive vice president of the Advertising and Strategy group, responsible for Microsoft’s global advertising and marketing strategy.
He also oversees a multidisciplinary SWAT team that deals with a range of projects involving marketing, media and compete. Microsoft Names Head of Cloud and Enterprise Group Satya Nadella as CEO. “Our industry does not respect tradition — it only respects innovation.” – Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella In what was an expected move, Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced that Satya Nadella, 46, has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors effective immediately. Nadella previously held the position of Executive Vice President of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group. Nadella, who joined Microsoft in 1992, has managed significant strategy and technical shifts across the company’s portfolio of products and services, most notably managing the development of the massive cloud infrastructures that support Bing, Xbox, Office and other services. Nadella is the third CEO in Microsoft's history. “Satya is a proven leader. 'Daddy, can I use the BLACK iPAD?': Life with the Surface Pro 2.
2013 Cost of Cyber Crime study Review “Daddy, can I use the black iPad?” Microsoft unwraps new Surface fondleslabs: More grunt, new toys. Gartner critical capabilities for enterprise endpoint backup Undeterred by its critics, Microsoft has torn the wraps off Surface 2: its upgraded Windows 8-powered tablets, now with faster processors, better graphics, a load of new accessories, and not one but two kickstand positions. The Surface Pro 2 with its new docking station Redmond has already written off nearly a billion dollars of the Surface systems, but at an event in New York on Monday the company showed off its latest attempt to reboot the line.
The new tablets, the Surface 2 (the tablet formerly known as RT) and Surface Pro 2, have new processors, slightly slimmer designs, and Microsoft is promising that power management has now been improved to stop them running out of juice quite so quickly. The new Surface 2 is slightly slimmer and lighter than its predecessor, uses a faster Nvidia Tegra 4 processor, and the screen resolution has been bumped up to handle 1080p video – bringing it on a par with the Pro version. Microsoft SLASHES rewards for biz selling its kit to 100 'big fish' Microsoft is set to slash the fees that its partners make on sales of Service Provider Licensing Agreements (SPLA) to certain large customers from January. As revealed by El Chan a couple of weeks back, SPLA prices are heading north from the start of next year with mostly double-digit rises on Windows Server, System Centre, Dynamics and Dynamics AX (see box below). The price rises will be more of a pain for hosting businesses, which often draft multi-year contracts with customers.
Why Is Microsoft Setting More Money On Fire With Surface 2? Here comes Windows 8.1! Microsoft grits teeth, pushes upgrade to world. Analysis Microsoft today unleashed Windows 8.1, the version to soothe folks ruffled by the touchscreen-friendly user interface. Crucially, the software giant really didn’t want to make this particular upgrade: it's effectively stepped back from the original Windows 8 blueprint.
Redmond cash splash follows mobile hash. Microsoft has decided to fling handfuls of cash at its shareholders, in the form of a 22 percent increase in its quarterly dividend, and renewing its $US40 billion share buyback program. Nokia. Windows Phone overtakes Apple's market share ... in India. Windows Phone has confounded the sceptics by beating iOS for the third consecutive quarter to take second place in the Indian smartphone market, but analysts have warned handset branding will be key to its future growth there in the wake of Microsoft’s Nokia buyout. Microsoft's 'We want a Mac look and feel' UK director splits after seven years. Microsoft has confirmed that long-serving director Simon Aldous has left the organisation with immediate effect. The now ex-director of hosting says he has left to pursue new opportunities outside of the organisation, but if he has a job lined up he is keeping mum about it.
"After seven years I decided that I wanted to move on and like many other Microsoft employees, locally and globally, I decided that the best time to do this was at fiscal year end," he told us. Crack open those wallets: Microsoft is raising software prices AGAIN. The REAL winner of Microsoft's Nokia buy: GOOGLE. High performance access to file storage. Business Insider: Microsoft Just Cleared The Way For Activist Hedge Fund ValueAct To Get A Seat On The Board (MSFT) What's the Matter with Microsoft? - Christopher Mims.
It’s possible, even likely, that Microsoft is about to enter the darkest period in the firm’s history. Darker, even, than July 2000, when it seemed the US government might dissolve the house that Bill built, and force the company to be split into two different companies. Update: Part 2, The seven-point plan to save Microsoft. What Surface RT flop? Nokia said to be readying WinRT slab for September. High performance access to file storage New reports have emerged suggesting that Nokia is planning to boldly go where other device makers fear to tread: the Finnish firm is reportedly planning to release a tablet running Microsoft's ill-fated Windows RT operating system. Murmurs that Nokia is working on a Surface RT competitor have been buzzing around for months now, but on Monday The Verge cited a source who claimed that specs for the device have been finalized.
Needed at Microsoft - A Catch-Up Artist. About an hour into the conversation, someone asked about .