Microsoft had a great quarter recently but we pointed out that Windows Phone 7 was basically nowhere to be found on its earnings sheet. Well, the folks at the Seattle PI have done some digging and found that revenues from Microsoft’s mobile division may have been abysmal.
The Windows Phone division (and Windows Mobile) is part of the Entertainment & Devices division, which also includes the super-popular Xbox division. After combing through Microsoft’s Securities and Exchange report, the publication found a rough revenue estimate for Microsoft’s mobile efforts: $613 million at the most. Seattle PI called this “abysmal.”
To put that in perspective, Apple’s mobile division generated billions last quarter and iOS now accounts for half of its overall revenues and that company may have more money than the U.S. government. Google is activating more than 550,000 Android devices a day and has already said that mobile search is generating more than a billion dollars.
It’s not fair to directly compare Windows Phone to Apple or Google because Microsoft makes money in a different way than either company but it’s worth pointing out that it’s not doing very well in the mobile space. The deal with Nokia may be the much-needed boost it needs to be successful in this space.
Microsoft has also been losing billions in the online space but there’s an argument to be make that it can’t afford not to just into this or the mobile space. At least with Windows Phone Mango, it has a credible product that can compete with iOS 5 and Android, so let’s just hope we see some better hardware hit the streets.
[Via Seattle PI]