Microsoft reports $21.46 billion in revenue for Q4 2012

Earlier today I reported that Microsoft was privately blaming vendors for slow sales with Windows 8, though keep in mind that the source of the article was an unnamed person reporting to the Register. Now it seems that Microsoft has released its official 4th quarter 2012 calendar year results. How do things look? Not bad, actually. Not bad at all.

The company reports a net profit of $6.38 billion for the quarter and $21.46 billion in overall revenues. That said, not everything was revealed during the quarterly reports. We still have no exact numbers for the Surface RT, though Steve Ballmer did release a statement regarding the Surface, Windows Phone 8 and other recent efforts for the company:

Our big, bold ambition to reimagine Windows as well as launch Surface and Windows Phone 8 has sparked growing enthusiasm with our customers and unprecedented opportunity and creativity with our partners and developers. With new Windows devices, including Surface Pro, and the new Office on the horizon, we’ll continue to drive excitement for the Windows ecosystem and deliver our software through devices and services people love and businesses need.

Microsoft also reported its Windows division had $5.9 billion revenue, which is up 24% from the same period one year ago. The launch of Windows 8 is likely a big part of that increase. Not everything was perfect though, as its business division reports $5.691 billion in revenues– down 10% from last year.

Entertainment and devices (including Xbox) were also reporting just $3.772 billion, which was down 11% from last year. That said, 2013 will likely see a major increase in that department towards the end of the year if and when the next Xbox launches.

The bottom-line is that despite naysayers about Windows 8 launch, things are actually looking reasonably positive for the Redmond giant. Sure, the Surface and Windows 8 might not be mass successes yet, but the numbers seem to indicate that things might not be as bad as some are claiming.

Of course those that firmly believe that Windows 8 is a failure will point out that much of the Windows 8 sales stem from OEM license selling, which admittedly is at least partially true. Still, profit is profit.

Going forward, the rest of 2013 will really be more indicative of how success their latest efforts with products like Windows 8 really are. Nonetheless, Microsoft is far from falling apart at this stage no matter what the anti-Microsoft crowd has to say.

What do you think of Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and other Microsoft efforts? Will they continue to grow in success throughout the 2013 year or not?

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