All About Microsoft

Mary-Jo Foley
Home / News & Blogs / All About Microsoft

Microsoft: We are focusing on eight core businesses

By Mary Jo Foley | July 29, 2010, 9:07am PDT

Summary

At the kick-off of the company’s annual Financial Analyst Meeting (FAM) in Redmond on July 29, Microsoft execs attempted to clarify where the company is focusing its efforts currently and in the coming year.

Topics

Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Microsoft SQL Server, Databases, Enterprise Software, Software, Data Management, Mary Jo Foley

Blogger Info

Mary-Jo Foley

Biography

Mary-Jo Foley

Mary-Jo Foley

Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 20 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She has kept close tabs on Microsoft strategy, products and technologies for the past 10 years. In the late 1990s, she penned the award-winning "At The Evil Empire" column for ZDNet, and more recently the Microsoft Watch blog for Ziff Davis.

Got a tip? Send her an email with your rants, rumors, tips and tattles. Confidentiality guaranteed.

Vendor HotSpot
Here to help you with your Document Management Needs

Read the DocuMentor blog now

Learn More »

Microsoft critics tend to knock the company for being either too reliant on its cash cows (Windows and Office) or too scattered, chasing too many nonprofitable businesses.

At the kick-off of the company’s annual Financial Analyst Meeting (FAM) in Redmond on July 29, Microsoft execs attempted to clarify where the company is focusing its efforts currently and in the coming year. Officials also emphasized repeatedly that in spite of all its talk and high-profile marketing push on the consumer front, Microsoft’s enterprise products constitute a huge part of the company’s revenue base.

Actually, Microsoft has eight core focus areas, General Manager of Investor Relations Bill Koefoed, told the Wall Street analysts (and a few of us press types) attending the day-long event.

The eight, according to Koefoed:

  • Xbox and TV
  • Bing
  • Office
  • Windows Server
  • Windows Phone
  • Windows
  • Business users
  • SQL Server

How does the cloud fit in? As Microsoft phases in more cloud offerings, things like Windows Azure, SQL Azure, Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), Windows Intune (system management service), they will replace these core products. Example: SQL Azure will come to replace SQL Server for at least some customers at some point.

Koeford said there are a number of “enablers” of these eight, specifically:

  • Stores and marketplaces
  • Services and support
  • MSN
  • Mice/keyboards
  • Mediaroom (IPTV)
  • Visual Tools
  • Windows Live
  • Dynamics (CRM and ERP)

Koefoed showed a breakout slide that showed plainly that enterprise customers are the largest user segment for Microsoft. Here’s how Microsoft’s customer base looks today:

  • Enterprise 35.8%
  • Small/midsize business 20.5%
  • Consumer and online 16.9%
  • OEM 26.8%

Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner said that in fiscal 2011 (which commenced on July 1 for Microsoft), Microsoft will be leading with the cloud when it sells. He said this positioning will allow Microsoft to sell more on-premises products than ever before. Microsoft is characterizing its cloud play as “IT as a service” as a way to make clear that its cloud products are aimed at IT pros, not just developers.

Microsoft also will continue to drive Windows 7 and Office 2010 in the coming year, Turner said. He said to expect a public beta of Internet Explorer 9 in September 2010.

What’s your take? Is eight too many cores for Microsoft to focus on?

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily e-mail newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

Disclosure

Mary-Jo Foley

Freelance journalist/blogger Mary Jo Foley has nothing to disclose. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). I do not own Microsoft stock or stock in any of its partners or competitors. I have no business ventures that are sponsored by/funded by Microsoft or any of its partners or competitors. I have not accepted any consulting funds from Microsoft, any of its partners or its competitors for any studies/projects.

Biography

Mary-Jo Foley

Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 20 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She has kept close tabs on Microsoft strategy, products and technologies for the past 10 years. In the late 1990s, she penned the award-winning "At The Evil Empire" column for ZDNet, and more recently the Microsoft Watch blog for Ziff Davis.

Got a tip? Send her an email with your rants, rumors, tips and tattles. Confidentiality guaranteed.

More from “All About Microsoft”

Related Discussions on TechRepublic

Did you know you can take part in these discussions with your ZDNet membership?
Ask a Question Start a Discussion

Talkback Most Recent of 38 Talkback(s)

  • WTF?! Mice/keyboards !
    Mice and keyboards are enablers? Of what? What does this even mean?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    davebarnes
    07/29/2010 10:01 AM
  • RE: Microsoft: We are focusing on eight core businesses
    @davebarnes: enablers of, well, finger cramps I guess. happy
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Random_Walk
    07/29/2010 11:47 AM
  • RE: Microsoft: We are focusing on eight core businesses
    @davebarnes

    I was wondering exactly the same thing!
    ZDNet Gravatar
    PottHead
    07/29/2010 12:33 PM
  • RE: Microsoft: We are focusing on eight core businesses
    @davebarnes, it means the push to tablets will fail unless the business unit for clicks and keystrokes also learns to include fingertip events like pinches, pans, & zooms. Failure to do so means that Office, the essential cash cow *will not* run properly on tablet computers (neither mice nor keyboards). I hope MSFT is listening to Dick Brass after these many years of having ignored the VP of fingertip events. But more likely, they will fail to pay attention.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    HaYouMustBeJoking
    07/29/2010 03:34 PM
  • Bye bye Zune
    It's truly been a dud Mary Jo.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    GoPower
    07/29/2010 10:42 AM
  • which is a shame, as I like it
    better then the iPod, personally.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    John Zern
    07/29/2010 10:48 AM
  • I liked the Zune better
    @John Zern - I thought the Zune was a much better device. I even liked the Zune store more than the iTunes store. My Zune never made my pc run slow.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Fark
    07/29/2010 12:09 PM
  • Fark you dont need anything to make your PC run slower
    Windows is more than enough!
    TD
    ZDNet Gravatar
    theo_durcan
    07/29/2010 12:45 PM
  • RE: Microsoft: We are focusing on eight core businesses
    @GoPower

    They are not getting rid of Zune. They have made it clear that they are making it more of a platform than a device. So when you see XBOX, TV, Windows and Windows Phone, you can assume Zune is included.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    rjohn05
    07/29/2010 01:08 PM
  • That's because it failed as a device
    @rjohn05 ... now they're acting like they meant to do that all along.
    It's failing as a service too.
    PlaysForSure, Kin, Zune. RIP
    ZDNet Gravatar
    HollywoodDog
    07/29/2010 01:25 PM
  • Talk about failing
    You should place your name right up there next that list, HD!

    LOL!
    happy
    ZDNet Gravatar
    John Zern
    07/29/2010 01:51 PM
  • Most of the 'areas' are useless white elephants
    Bing has slurped down probably billions in shareholder money for a small fraction of Google's market. Great for developers, testers, marketing slime and ad agencies - bad for shareholders.
    If HollywoodDog were tapped as CEO, I'd probably sell off any division not currently making money (excepting necessary stuff like developer tools), do large headcount reductions, freeze salaries, and greatly increase the dividend, and promise to keep raising it. In my tenure, priority zero would be shareholder value, shareholder dividends.
    Shareholders, shareholders, shareholders.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    HollywoodDog
    07/29/2010 10:46 AM
  • Sure thing Market A...er HolywoodDog
    You shills are getting harder and harder to distinguish between anymore: same old nonsense, same lame postings.

    Can't your handlers come up with anything original for you guys to post, anymore?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    John Zern
    07/29/2010 10:50 AM
  • RE: Microsoft: We are focusing on eight core businesses
    @HollywoodDog:

    And your approach would lead to Microsoft being out of business in five years or less, spending the last few hundred million of its cash defending shareholder lawsuits resulting from the dividend promises.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    cuhulin
    07/30/2010 05:19 PM
  • Developers Developers Developers and things that matter
    @HollywoodDog
    I understand that Microsoft is a corporation with shareholders but by cutting R&D and not investing more, you'll get the same old things and not innovate.
    Apple doesn't make money by not going and focusing on other markets.

    iPod wasn't really in line with macs and well, macs but they went for this segment with a new product that probably cost a lot to develop and get a hold of the market (relatively) but now it's become such a big name.

    It makes sense to collaborate and consolidate the Microsoft empire but don't cut everything.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    sitmonkey
    09/01/2010 04:12 PM
View More Comments

Talkback - Tell Us What You Think

advertisement

The best of ZDNet, delivered

ZDNet Newsletters

Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox

Facebook Activity

Blog Roll

Blog Archive

White Papers, Webcasts, & Resources
advertisement