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Edition: U.S. Article Comments (5) Slideshow Interactive Email Print Reprints Read Bin Laden blames French policy for abductions -TV 8:07am EDT Apple delays white iPhone until next spring 26 Oct 2010 Special Report: Sleepy in Seattle - Microsoft learns to mature 10:13am EDT Fed looks set for new round of monetary easing 8:19am EDT Special report: Faked in China: Inside the pirates' web 26 Oct 2010 Discussed 83 Republicans poised to win House and gain in Senate 64 Special Report: The haves, the have-nots and the dreamless dead 56 Special report: Conservative donors let Christine O’Donnell sink Watched Russian spy poses for Maxim Tue, Oct 19 2010 Mexico's 20-yr old police chief Thu, Oct 21 2010 Indonesia volcano ash blankets towns 1:31am EDT Report Title Price ValuEngine Comprehensive Rating Report Provider: ValuEngine, Inc. $99.0 Buy ValuEngine Industry Report for SERVICES TO MEDICAL PROF Provider: ValuEngine, Inc. $49.0 Buy ValuEngine Industry Report for MULTI-IND CAP GOOD Provider: ValuEngine, Inc. $49.0 Buy Trading Report for (GE). A detailed report, including free correlated market analysis, and updates. Provider: Stock Traders Daily $18.0 Buy GE: Risk/Reward Rating: Full Report: Cash Truth Behind the Reported Earnings Provider: New Constructs, LLC $10.0 Buy NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. NASDAQ delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here. Special Report: Sleepy in Seattle - Microsoft learns to mature Tweet This Share on LinkedIn Share on Facebook By Bill Rigby SEATTLE (Reuters) - Every July, Microsoft Corp invites a sizable Wall Street crowd to its leafy, low-rise campus outside Seattle. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and his top managers take a half-day to explain where the world's biggest... Related Topics Earnings » Technology » Media » iPad » Stocks Related Interactive Tech market capitalization 1 / 6 Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is seen after the Windows Phone 7 launch in New York, October 11, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi By Bill Rigby SEATTLE | Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:13am EDT SEATTLE (Reuters) - Every July, Microsoft Corp invites a sizable Wall Street crowd to its leafy, low-rise campus outside Seattle. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and his top managers take a half-day to explain where the world's biggest software company is going, to a generally friendly audience. This year things didn't go quite according to plan. Ballmer, CEO since 2000, talked excitedly of Windows 7, its new Bing search engine, new Phone software and the Xbox game system. But he was skimpy with details of how Microsoft would counter Apple's hugely popular iPad, a question that has been vexing investors. At the end of the presentations, Sarah Friar, the influential Goldman Sachs analyst and a long-term bull on Microsoft's stock, seemed unconvinced. She wanted Ballmer to take another stab at explaining the iPad counter-attack. "It feels like right now you are not completely clear," said Friar. "I just want to give you another chance to give a succinct ... response." Always an energetic presence on stage, Ballmer raised his voice even louder than usual, and with a resounding slap of his hands, repeated his main points methodically. Slates and tablet computers are coming soon. They will have Intel chips. They will run Windows. "We're going to sell like crazy. We're going to market like crazy," he boomed. Three months later, Microsoft and its hardware partners have unveiled only one Windows tablet, which does not seem to be an iPad contender, much less a killer, as Apple's nifty gadget heads toward 8 million sales, eating away at the lower end of Microsoft's core PC market. Partly because of this, Microsoft's stock has drifted lower, and is now down 16 percent for the year, despite a surge in tech stocks that has pushed the Nasdaq up 10 percent in the same time. The shares remain resolutely stuck at the same level as 2002. At the beginning of October, Goldman's Friar threw in the towel, pitching Microsoft out of her bank's Americas Buy List and downgrading it to "neutral" -- Wall Street's euphemism for "dead money." One of her complaints was the lack of a "coherent consumer strategy," the very thing which Microsoft and Ballmer took such pains to lay out at the July meeting. The downgrade by Goldman, the company that led its initial public offering in 1986, was an unexpected knock for Microsoft, which has no shortage of cheerleaders on Wall Street, given the potential fees it represents for mergers and corporate bond issues. Coming only four months after Apple surpassed Microsoft in market value -- until recently an unthinkable event -- the downgrade brought into focus questions about Microsoft that are increasingly being asked by customers, investors and even some employees. Why hasn't the stock moved in eight years, despite more than doubling profit and sales in that time? Is Microsoft really at the forefront of technology? Why can't it invent popular gadgets like Google or Apple? Is Ballmer still the right person to lead the firm? From the other side, Wall Street may have missed a subtle answer from Ballmer. The company is not Apple and can't promise stellar growth or a rocketing share price any more. It is learning how to be a mature, fiscally responsible company that will return as much as it can to shareholders in other ways. In this fashion, Microsoft may point the way for rising companies like Google, which one day will also face the issue of how to keep growth going beyond its initial success. THE BRIGHT SIDE On paper, Microsoft is still a strong and growing company. It notched record sales of $62.5 billion last fiscal year, up 7 percent from the year before, and its highest ever net profit of $18.8 billion. The 70 percent operating profit margin on its core Windows business is the envy of companies the world over. The new Windows 7 operating system is a hit -- selling 240 million licenses in the first year and erasing most of the stink of Vista -- and looks set to continue Microsoft's 90 percent-plus hold on the operating system market. Its new Office suite of applications -- containing Outlook e-mail, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentation programs -- will likely remain the gold standard in the workplace. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next Earnings Technology Media iPad Comments See All Comments (5) | Post Comment Oct 27, 2010 8:22am EDT Apple sells hardware first, software second. Microsoft sells software first and hardly any hardware (let’s leave out the PC peripherals and Xbox). Why does the media insist on comparing them? Comparing Apple to Dell/HP/Lenovo/Asus makes more sense. Similarly, one should compare MS to Google/Oracle. DougAnderson Report As Abusive Oct 27, 2010 10:10am EDT DougAnderon you missed the latest developments regarding Oracle.. now they are in the Hardware+Software business. Check out their new Exadata and Exalogic offerings. So do not say Oracle is a pure software player anymore. forweekend Report As Abusive Oct 27, 2010 11:08am EDT Comparing Apple and Microsoft is legitimate because there is an implied assertion that the market is rapidly changing and eroding Microsoft’s core business. For long term viability, Microsoft needs to drive the smart phone and tablet markets with their software as they did with PCs. They are failing badly at the moment. Erkable Report As Abusive Oct 27, 2010 11:30am EDT MS has been producing junk software for years. It has never innovated. Its corporate strategy has been driven by stealing software and hiding behind a wall of lawyers. Companies and governments have been suing them for years for shady business practice. Ballmer is to many an idiot. In 15 years MS will be where GM is today. cynicalme Report As Abusive Oct 27, 2010 11:47am EDT Ballmer says “If I ever thought there was a day where the company would be better off without me, I’d leave that day,” Hey Steve! That day came several years ago. You were just not listening. And Apple does just sell hardware. What makes Apple products so great is the seamless integration of the hardware and software. If Apple products ran Windows, they would be a piece of crap. RufusDaddy Report As Abusive See All Comments (5) Add a Comment *We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language or appear to be spam and review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. © Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters Editorial Editions: Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom United States Reuters Contact Us Advertise With Us Help Journalism Handbook Archive Site Index Video Index Reader Feedback Mobile Newsletters RSS Podcasts Widgets Your View Analyst Research Thomson Reuters Copyright Disclaimer Privacy Professional Products Professional Products Support Financial Products About Thomson Reuters Careers Online Products Acquisitions Monthly Buyouts Venture Capital Journal International Financing Review Project Finance International PEhub.com PE Week FindLaw Reuters on Facebook Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

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