Brad from Liliputing posits that netbook sales are harming Microsoft’s bottom line.
There are a number of reasons Microsoft saw a revenue decline this year (and please, before you shed any tears, bear in mind that the company is still making a profit, just not as big a profit as it did last year). Some of those reasons have to do with software: Windows Vista didn’t catch on the way Microsoft hoped it would, and Windows 7 isn’t available yet.
But the recession has also led to a decline in PC sales generally, and a surge in sales of low cost netbooks which run older copies of Windows XP which Microsoft is offering at a deep, deep discount in an attempt to provide an affordable alternative to Linux powered netbooks. And that’s led to lower profit margins for Microsoft.
Check out the rest of Brad’s (rather convincing) argument here.
What do you think?
