Late Thursday, Microsoft announced record revenues for the quarter ending December 31, 2009, thanks to blockbuster sales of Windows 7. The company earned a profit of $8.51 billion on revenues of $19.02 billion in the quarter—a time period during which Windows 7 sold more than 60 million units, also a quarterly record.
"Exceptional demand for Windows 7 led to the positive top-line growth for the company," said Microsoft CFO Peter Klein. "Our continuing commitment to managing costs allowed us to drive earnings performance ahead of the revenue growth."
"This is a record quarter for Windows unit \[sales\]," Microsoft COO Kevin Turner said. "We are thrilled by the consumer reception to Windows 7 and by business enthusiasm to adopt Windows 7." This, Turner says, makes Windows 7 the fastest-selling OS in history.
According to Microsoft, the surge in excitement around Windows 7 led to PC growth in the quarter of 15 to 17 percent, with consumer PC growth up 20 percent.
Windows 7 did a lot to overcome weaknesses in virtually all the company's other market segments. Office sales were down 3 percent, likely because of the pending upgrade to Office 2010. Server sales were flat. Xbox sales fell dramatically, 13 percent year over year, providing that part of the company with huge revenue declines. And revenues in the online division were down 5 percent, although Bing continues to gain market share.