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Microsoft flattens Google, Apple and others with some good ol' NUMBERS
A few days ago, the Microsoft vice president of Corporate Communications shared some figures with the rest of the world. Total sales, downloads, visitors, subscriptions -- numbers. It's a blog post of numbers.TechCrunch calls it passive-aggressive. I call it smug, reassured braggatry -- the kind that only 800lb gorillas can pull off. If you want a full analysis of the numbers, read TechCrunch's post. Here are some choice snippets:
- 24% -- Linux server market share in 2005
- 33% -- predicted Linux server market share for 2007 (made in 2005)
- 21.2% -- actual Linux server market share, Q4 2009
- 7.1 million -- projected iPad sales for 2010
- 58 million -- projected netbook sales in 2010
- 355 million -- projected PC sales in 2010
- 96% -- percentage of US netbooks running Windows in 2009
That's just a taster! Go read The Official Microsoft Blog if you want MORE.
Comments
25
Subscribe to commentsRichardJun 28th 2010 8:24AM
I think it's a good set of figures which can be used when anyone mistakenly claims that Microsoft is a failing company and slipping into irrelevance - which Apple bloggers tend to do quite often.
StevenJun 28th 2010 8:28AM
"Your iPhones and iPads might sell like hot cakes, but Windows is still the uncontested emperor when it comes to the largest segments: netbooks and PCs."
There's one problem with this. The iPhone and iPad are not netbooks, so therefore, the projected netbook sales number is pointless. Have you ever seen a netbook, PC, or Windows phone have preorder numbers over 600,000 in ONE DAY? I think not.
Besides, since when have "projected" numbers been correct? About as many times as analysts.
Sebastian AnthonyJun 28th 2010 8:32AM
Er, projected numbers for the _same year_ are generally pretty good, especially when you are already half way through it...!
Look at the other figures for smartphones -- iPhones are doing well, but they still only accounted for less than 20% of smartphone sales in Q1 2010.
StevenJun 28th 2010 8:36AM
@Sebastian
What you're forgetting is the iPhone has 2 models available for sale. That's pretty impressive when you put that into perspective of the 20% of all smartphone sales in Q1. How many phones does Nokia offer? Palm/HP? HTC? etc. etc.
Sebastian AnthonyJun 28th 2010 8:40AM
So...?
That's indeed very impressive, but... not all that important :P
StevenJun 28th 2010 8:52AM
It's important enough for Microsoft to mention them specifically.
And just released, 1.7m iPhones sold in 3 days.
d-signetJun 28th 2010 9:36AM
Steven, what you fail to appreciate is that apple may only have 2 models availbalbe, but a large percentage of their sales are the same people.
How many people do you know who bought a 3g, a 3gs AND an iphone 4 ? Sometimes more than one model in the same year?
The HTC owners likely have the exact same phone they did when the iphone 3g came out (or even before the original iphone) becuase the phones are usually THAT good they don't need replacing every year or two.
This is also the reason why - as a market percentage - apple aren't nearly as powerful as SALES figures would make it appear. 1.7m is a good figure, but that's also now 1.7m fewer iphone 3g/3gs owners out there....as it;s likely that ownly the fanatical apple guys will have been in the preorders.
bbourgeois87Jun 28th 2010 3:05PM
Except for the fact that netbooks have vastly outsold the iPad overall. They wouldn't be relevant aside from the fact that Jobs claimed "netbooks aren't better than anything." Apparently he's wrong. 58m netbook sales vs. 7.1m iPad... No surprise, considering that: netbooks run flash and therefore can access everything on the internet, netbooks run full operating systems and don't need another computer to sync with, netbooks have keyboards - very preferable to create content rather than just consume it, and netbooks are much cheaper than iPads. I can't find even one advantage an iPad has over a netbook other than size and simplicity, perhaps build quality (if I cared - Apple's send it in for everything & anything approach counters that for me).
StevenJun 28th 2010 8:32AM
By the way, where's the number of "projected Windows Phone 7 sales for 2010?"
Sebastian AnthonyJun 28th 2010 8:32AM
You're an iPhone owner aren't you?
DaleJun 28th 2010 9:42AM
@Sebastian Anthony Why do you have to be an iPhone owner to ask that? That section of the blog post failed to mention a Microsoft product, as if they wanted you to assume that the remainder of the 55 million smart phone sales were all Microsoft-using products, which is not true considering Android, WebOS and other Symbian vendors exist.
Sebastian AnthonyJun 28th 2010 10:00AM
No, MS has gone on the record about how it dropped the ball with the mobile segment. I am pretty sure they are just pointing out that, despite the furore, Nokia is selling more phones than Apple.
216Jun 28th 2010 8:53AM
The absolute funniest stat on that page:
"100%
Percent chance that Salesforce.com CEO will mention Microsoft in a speech, panel, interview, or blog post."
Haha I see MS is not holding back any punches
FredJun 28th 2010 9:48AM
Persaonally I don't see an issue with these numbers. WHY they are published, I'm not sure. I suppose the average joe may not know them, but the sites carrying these numbers in stories are not usually average Joe sites...
Whatever, I am an unashamed MS fan (not fan boy). They make good products that do what I want to do in the way that I do them. Therefore, they get my money.
stinlen56Jun 28th 2010 11:40AM
very nicely said.
microsoftieJun 28th 2010 11:02AM
The numbers are fluffed. What it doesn't state is if the numbers for Linux are sales for the year or if they are for installed base. There is a difference. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems
Installed makes a difference. Plus, what makes it hard to quantify both server and desktop is that you'll find a very large number of Linux systems NOT connected to the web in any way.
Sebastian AnthonyJun 28th 2010 11:10AM
Yeah, I was wondering how accurate the Linux figures are.
There could be Windows boxes not attached to the Internet too, don't forget. Also, these aren't specifically Web servers -- just servers in general.
That Netcraft statistic shows that Linux is still doing well for Web serving though!
ArnieJun 28th 2010 11:24AM
When I look at them being arrogant about these numbers, I think they might fall into a trap of being complacent. This complacency led to the decline in the WinMo sales. They are content being the follower as long as they get a piece of the pie. When will they learn to put things out there which actually start trends? Are they content being followers?
kojo87Jun 28th 2010 2:01PM
i think this statement would have been far more relevant 5 years ago. look at what Microsoft is doing lately and its pretty hard to say they are just being complacent. Xbox 360, Kinect, Windows 7, Windows Phone 7, Office 2010, new Windows Live stuff. its not really fair to say Microsoft is the same company it was in the early 2000's.
SpankyJun 28th 2010 1:34PM
It's not complacency that you should worry about - it's that these numbers only came out because of FEAR. Microsoft has a massive install base but so did AOL and Compuserve. Microsoft has zero ability to grow because of market saturation in those areas where they claim dominance. In the areas where they are weak - like mobile - they can't grow because they are being out-executed at every turn. The stock has become a widows & orphans stock because it would take a billion dollar business to move the needle in terms of revenue and those types of markets don't come around every day.
Microsoft may get their act together in mobile but the marketing will kill it. They may be able to market effectively to the XBox crowd but latency in Natal/Kinect will kill that as well.
This was not so much the act of a courageous giant but the frightened bellowing of a wounded whale surrounded by sharks.
On the other hand...
MSFT has done an excellent job of freezing the Linux juggernaut. They have prevailed vs. free which is impressive. Additionally, MSFT is moving to wipe out all of the companies that provide server monitoring solutions (Zenith, Kaseya, etc.) and the MSPs that use them. That could very well be the next Billion dollar business for MSFT. It's not sexy, it won't lead to people camping out, but it is big dollars.