It turned out to be a damn good quarter for Microsoft, pulling in $13.76 billion in revenue—a 27 percent jump over the same quarter last year—for a net income of $4.29 billion, making it "the fastest revenue growth of any first quarter since 1999" with double digit growth in every division. (Halo 3 was mentioned during the growth highlights, for fanboys looking for jollies.) Following the earnings call was kind of annoying because of its bajillion product lines and a mess of jargon, but to cut to the Vista and 360 chase, things are moving along and growing nicely.
75 percent of client Windows customers are opting for "premium versions" (wonder why?), so that segment grew 150 percent vs. the same quarter last year (before Vista Home Premium became buyers' default version), aiding a client revenue growth of 20 percent. OEM revenue's up 25 percent.
Xbox 360-wise, they moved 1.8 million units this quarter—a 90 percent surge over same quarter last year— which was attributed to the August price cut, Halo 3 interest and a production ramp up. Overall, the division generated $1.9 billion in sales, with $330 million of that coming from Halo 3. Interestingly, the 360's leading sales of 3rd-party games of the current gen systems.
For the overall year, Microsoft's projecting revenue of $58.8 billion to $59.7 billion for an operating income of $23.3 billion to $23.7 billion, making the $240 million they tossed Facebook and the GDP of some countries look like a pittance. [Microsoft]