Microsoft Loses $435 Million in Netbooks
According to current figures from Netbookdigest.com, Microsoft has lost $435,000,000 over the last year in netbook sales.
While Microsoft has maintained about 90% of the desktop and notebook market, netbooks come in at only 70%. Part of the reason is Linux, but part is Microsoft itself.
Netbook Digest calculated approximately how much Microsoft lost in the netbook market. Linux as its competitor was responsible for about $75 million in losses, not terribly scathing for Microsoft. But the figures begin to mount significantly when you consider the cost incurred for XP's lingering domination instead of the hoped for Vista (which accounted for less then two percent of the netbook market). Netbook Digest's calculation was based on a per unit loss of $36 due to XP, multiplied by 10 million netbooks sold in 2008, making $360 million. Add to that the $75 million lost to Linux and you get the $435 million.
An improvement in this respect is still not in sight for 2009. Windows 7, Vista's replacement, is due out earliest 2010.
Comments
comments powered by Disqus
Tag Cloud
News
-
Heartbleed Bleeds On
According to a report, many potential victims of the Heartbleed attack have patched their systems, but few have cleaned up the crime scene to protect themselves from the effects of a previous intrusion.
-
Drone Brain Goes Open Source
DARPA and NICTA release the code for the ultra-secure microkernel system used in aerial drones.
-
Password Management Services Vulnerable to Attack
Should you trust an online service to store your online passwords?
-
New Raspberry Pi Adds Two USB Ports
New B+ board lets you build cool things without the complication of a powered USB hub.
-
Microsoft Grabs No-IP.com Domains
Redmond rushes in to root out alleged malware haven.
-
Firefox Steps into 3D
New initiative will bring futuristic virtual reality effects to the web surfing experience.
-
New Trojan Targets Online Banking
Dyreza malware launches a man-in-the-middle attack that compromises SSL.
-
HP Rolls Out Massive Cloud Network
New cloud combines worldwide access with local attention to data security.
-
New Attack Targets Wireless Logins
A first cousin of the recent Heartbleed attack affects EAP-based wireless and peer-to-peer authentication.
-
Geeks Petition for Free Lenovo BIOS
FOSS community acts to protect freedom of choice for laptop devices.
Microsoft marketing dollars
However it is still imaginable that Microsoft is spending more to put XP on netbooks than it costs to produce XP. This is because it is standard Microsoft practice to provide kickbacks to manufacturers in return for promoting the Microsoft brand. This includes everything from "Made for Microsoft" stickers to insisting that every advertisement contain a Microsoft sales pitch.
"Marketing dollars" are the carrot. The stick is the threat of refusal to license MS products.
These deals are always secret. We'll probably never know.
Agreed
Flawed logic
The only way in which one could legitimately claim that Microsoft was suffering any losses due to the sale of netbooks is if Microsoft were providing Windows XP to netbook manufacturers at a price lower than the cost of production. But since Microsoft's cost in providing Windows XP to the manufacturers amounts to little more than the cost of producing and shipping the master CDs or DVDs used by the manufacturers in their installation process (the original development cost was recouped long ago and there is little or no ongoing development cost as XP now has limited support), it is hard to believe that Microsoft is losing any money on the netbooks unless they are providing Windows XP to the manufacturers at no cost.
Some sales were not lost
I would not have bought them if they were only available with M$ Windows pre-infested.
Life is too short for a little netbook to spend its time scanning for 20,000 M$ malware.
Windows 7 hope for MS? Ah... no.
Either way, it's not GNU, nor GPL/Free Software, so big brother will still be watching over you.