Following the huge loss reported by major mobile partner Nokia, Microsoft posted its fiscal third-quarter results on Thursday following the close of the market. Wall Street was expecting the software giant’s earnings to slide 7% year-over-year to $0.57 per share on sales of $17.18 billion, up 5% from the same quarter in 2011. Microsoft reported earnings of $0.60 per share, beating estimates, and revenue came in at $17.41 billion. Operating income totaled $6.37 billion, up 12% year-over-year. Read on for more.

“We’re driving toward exciting launches across the entire company, while delivering strong financial results,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said. “With the upcoming release of new Windows 8 PCs and tablets, the next version of Office, and a wide array of products and services for the enterprise and consumers, we will be delivering exceptional value to all our customers in the year ahead.”

Revenue from Microsoft’s Server & Tools division was up 14% to $4.57 billion, Microsoft’s Business division grew 9% to $5.81 billion in sales, and its Windows and Windows Live division posted revenue of $4.62 billion, up 4%.

Microsoft did not discuss specific figures with regard to Windows Phone license sales but Nokia, the only Windows Phone vendor partner that has shared sales figures for this past quarter, reported having sold more than 2 million Lumia smartphones between January and March. Microsoft’s full press release follows below.

Microsoft Reports Record Third-Quarter Revenue

Strong business demand drives double-digit operating income growth.

REDMOND, Wash. — Apr. 19, 2012 — Microsoft Corp. today announced quarterly revenue of $17.41 billion for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2012, a 6% increase from the prior year period. Operating income was $6.37 billion, up 12% from the prior year period.

Net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $5.11 billion and $0.60 per share, compared with $5.23 billion and $0.61 per share, respectively, in the prior year period. Prior year net income and diluted earnings per share included a $461 million or $0.05 per share tax benefit primarily related to a tax settlement with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

“We’re driving toward exciting launches across the entire company, while delivering strong financial results,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “With the upcoming release of new Windows 8 PCs and tablets, the next version of Office, and a wide array of products and services for the enterprise and consumers, we will be delivering exceptional value to all our customers in the year ahead.”

The Server & Tools business posted $4.57 billion in third-quarter revenue, a 14% increase from the prior year period, driven by double-digit revenue growth in SQL Server and more than 20% growth in System Center revenue.

The Microsoft Business Division reported $5.81 billion in third-quarter revenue, a 9% increase from the prior year period, reflecting the continued strength of Office 2010 with businesses and consumers. Dynamics posted an 11% revenue increase from the prior year period, with Dynamics CRM revenue growing more than 30%.

The Windows and Windows Live Division posted revenue of $4.62 billion, a 4% increase from the prior year period.  Strong Windows 7 adoption continued with enterprise desktops on Windows 7 now up to 40% worldwide.

“We saw strong demand for our business desktop and infrastructure offerings,” said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft. “Solid revenue growth and continued cost discipline drove double-digit operating income growth.”

The Online Services Division reported revenue of $707 million, a 6% increase from the prior year period, and operating loss improvement of approximately $300 million.

The Entertainment & Devices Division posted revenue of $1.62 billion, a decrease of 16% from the prior period due to a soft gaming console market. Xbox remained the top-selling console in the U.S. for the 15^th consecutive month, and the company announced new television content partners and experiences for its 40 million Xbox LIVE members.

“We continue to execute well across our businesses, and we are seeing robust demand for our enterprise products and services,” said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft. “Our investments and offerings in the database platform and public, private, and hybrid cloud are helping our customers transform their operations to meet today’s evolving business demands.”

Business Outlook

Microsoft is revising operating expense guidance downward and now offers a range of $28.3 billion to $28.7 billion for the full year ending June 30, 2012. Microsoft also offers preliminary fiscal year 2013 operating expense guidance of $30.3 billion to $30.9 billion, representing 6% to 8% growth from the mid-point of fiscal year 2012 guidance.

Images of Microsoft’s product roadmap for partners have leaked onto the web. The documents were posted on Twitter by Maartin Visser, who discovered the them on the Microsoft Partner Network. The purported roadmap reveals new details regarding the next versions of upcoming products, including Office 15, Internet Explorer 10 and Windows Phone. Microsoft’s IE 10 could be out by mid-year according to the roadmap, possibly around around the same time as the Windows 8 Release Candidate. Office 15 is expected to enter its beta-testing phase midway through 2012 and become available in the early part of 2013. Window Phone will see “future investments” somewhere around the third quarter of this year, possibly indicating an Apollo launch. A second image can found after the break.

[Via ZDNet]

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OnLive, a company known for its cloud-based gaming service, has been pushing its “Desktop App” for iPad and select Android tablets. The program uses virtualization technology to create a remotely hosted, fully functional version of Windows 7 desktop — Microsoft’s Office suite included — on a tablet, and has been met with a great deal of praise. Microsoft, however, cannot be counted among the service’s fans. In a post on the company’s blog, the software giant expressed concerns that the app may be in violation of its licensing agreements and is “actively engaged with OnLive with the hope of bringing them into a properly licensed scenario, and we are committed to seeing this issue is resolved.” OnLive did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

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Microsoft is confirmed to be working on a version of its wildly popular Office productivity suite for Apple’s iPad, and The Daily managed to get some hands on time with the highly anticipated software ahead of its release. Microsoft Office for iPad will bring Word, Excel and PowerPoint functionality to Apple’s tablet — presuming the app is approved by Apple — and it is unclear if Microsoft has plans to add additional Office applications in the future. The app has a similar look to Microsoft’s OneNote app for iOS, which borrows largely from the Metro-themed Office software on the Windows Phone platform. The Daily’s report states that Microsoft plans to submit Office for iPad to Apple for approval in the coming weeks, though a firm time frame was not provided.

UPDATE Microsoft told ZDNet that the image above is a fake. The company did not comment on whether or not it has a version of Office for the iPad in development.

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Apple reportedly has plans to open a new office in Israel, its first center outside of its Cupertino, California headquarters. The outpost will be headed by Aharon Aharon, Israeli business news site Globes said Wednesday, noting that Aharon is a well established figure in Israeli technology circles. Aharon currently serves as the chairman of radio frequency imaging firm Camero Tech Ltd. He has also served on the board of Discretix and once worked as a vice president for Zoran Corporation. Israeli’s new Apple head will train in Cupertino for several months before opening the Israel-based facility, the report says. This isn’t the first move Apple has made in Israel recently: the company is reportedly in acquisition talks with Anobit, a fabless flash storage vendor that has provided parts to Apple for its iPad, iPhone and iPod touch product families. Rumors have suggested Apple could spend as much as $400 to $500 million for Anobit.

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Microsoft may be working to develop a special version of its Office suite for Apple’s iPad. The company is also reportedly prepping an Office Suite update that will add official support for Lion and may be available from the Mac App Store, The Daily reported Tuesday. The new Office apps for Lion could cost as little as $10 each, or the same price Apple charges for its Keynote, Numbers and Pages titles, and they will also support sync with Office 365 and other mobile versions of the application. No additional details were reported regarding pricing or a release schedule for Microsoft’s Office for iPad. “We already deliver Office on multiple platforms and devices and are committed to expanding in the future, but have nothing further to share today,” Microsoft said in a statement to CNET, neglecting to confirm or deny the report.

Read [The Daily] Read [CNET]

Moments ago, Microsoft officially released its new cloud-based Office product, Office 365, which will compete directly with Google Docs. The Office 365 suite, which has been in public beta for awhile now, is being targeted at the enterprise market and plans for the entire suite cost between $10 and $27 each month depending on the feature set chosen. Small and medium-sized businesses can also choose a more cost effective $6 option that only includes Office Web Apps and Microsoft Exchange. Those options, however, are all more expensive than the $50 annual fee that Google charges corporate users for access to its Google Docs suite. Microsoft’s full press release follows below.

Microsoft Launches Office 365 Globally

World-class collaboration tools are now available for businesses large and small.

NEW YORK — June 28, 2011 — Today, at media events around the world, Microsoft Corp. announced the availability ofMicrosoft Office 365, the company’s newest cloud service. Office 365 is now available in 40 markets, and it brings together Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Exchange Online and Microsoft Lync Online in an always-up-to-date cloud service, at a predictable monthly subscription.

The service was introduced in beta last year with enthusiastic response and, in a few months, more than 200,000 organizations signed up and began testing it. Businesses using Office 365 are already reporting impressive results and reducing IT costs by up to an estimated 50 percent while boosting productivity.

Today, more than 20 service providers around the globe also shared plans to bring Office 365 to their customers this year. Bell Canada, Intuit Inc., NTT Communications Corp., Telefonica S.A., Telstra Corp. and Vodafone Group Plc, among others, will package and sell Office 365 with their own services for small and midsize businesses.

“Great collaboration is critical to business growth, and because it’s so important, we believe the best collaboration technology should be available to everyone,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “With a few clicks, Office 365 levels the playing field, giving small and midsize businesses powerful collaboration tools that have given big businesses an edge for years.”

A Game Changer for Businesses of All Sizes

Office 365 is available in a wide range of service plans designed to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes, ranging from the largest to the smallest.

With Office 365, people can stay on the “same page” using instant messaging and virtual meetings with people who are just down the hall or across the world. They can work on files and documents at the same time and share ideas as easily as they can share calendars. Office 365 gives people new ways to work together with ease, on virtually any device.

Microsoft Office applications are at the heart of Office 365. Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, Outlook and other Office applications connect to Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and Lync to deliver a world-class solution for communication and collaboration.

“When I saw Office 365, I knew this was the way businesses would work in the future,” said Elia Wallen, owner of fast-growing temporary housing provider Travelers Haven. “With Office 365, I’m going to save $100,000 a year and cut 30 hours of work a day across my 35 employees, but most importantly, my team is going to be able to work together better — no matter where they are.”

More stories from businesses that have tried Office 365 are available athttp://www.microsoft.com/casestudies.

Office 365 Partners

Microsoft is building a massive partner ecosystem around Office 365, including systems integrators, software vendors, resellers and other partners. Today, that ecosystem is expanding as the company partners in new ways with market-leading service providers. These companies will package Office 365 with their own services — from Web hosting and broadband to finance solutions and mobile services — and bring those new offerings to millions of small and midsize businesses globally.

“Our partners represent some of the best-known, most-trusted brands in their local markets,” said Kurt DelBene, president, Microsoft Office Division. “Our customers will be able to rest easy knowing their cloud services are backed by Microsoft and some of the greatest service providers in the world.”

A list of Office 365 service provider partners is available here.

About Office 365

Office 365 offers a range of service plans for a predictable monthly price from $2 to $27 per user per month. With Office 365 for small businesses, customers can be up and running with Office Web Apps, Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Lync Online and an external website in minutes, for $6 (U.S.) per user, per month. These tools put enterprise-grade email, shared documents, instant messaging, video and Web conferencing, portals, and more at everyone’s fingertips.

Office 365 for enterprises has an array of choices, from simple email to comprehensive suites to meet the needs of midsize and large businesses, as well as government organizations. Customers can now get Microsoft Office Professional Plus on a pay-as-you-go basis with cloud-based versions of the industry’s leading business communications and collaboration services. Each of these plans comes with the advanced IT controls, innovative security technologies, 24/7 IT support and reliability customers expect from Microsoft.

Availability

Office 365 for small businesses and Office 365 for enterprises are available now. Businesses can try Office 365 for free for 30 days by signing up at http://www.office365.com or from their local Microsoft partner. Follow Office 365 on Twitter (@Office365), Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/office365) and the Office 365 blog at http://community.office365.comfor the latest information.

A new page has been revealed on the Best Buy Mexico website that may shed light on the release date for Apple’s upcoming iWork refresh. According to the page, which has been pulled from Best Buy Mexico’s website, the company will be holding a launch event on February 19th to celebrate the arrival of iWork ’11. Apple has not yet announced a launch date for the new version of its iWork productivity suite, though this leak on the Best Buy Mexico site does line up well with earlier rumors. iWork competes with Microsoft’s Office suite and consists of Pages, Apple’s word processing application; Numbers, a spreadsheet app; and Keynote, a presentation tool akin to PowerPoint.

[Via Apple Bitch]

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Sales of illegitimate copies of Microsoft programs may be doing more than just lining hackers’ pockets. According to Microsoft’s lawyers, notorious Mexican drug cartel La Familia Michoacana is selling counterfeit Microsoft software to help fund kidnappings, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and other criminal activities. David Finn, Microsoft’s Associate General Counsel dealing with Worldwide Anti-piracy and Anti-counterfeiting, wrote about the problem in a blog post on Thursday. “An important theme that resonated among the international groups is the number of organized criminal gangs that rely on the profits gleaned from pirated software to fund other crimes,” Finn wrote on a Microsoft blog. “Sophisticated criminal syndicates and drug cartels are building large scale counterfeiting operations and selling illegal software to consumers. These illegal enterprises have generated astronomical profits that the gangs funnel toward violent crimes such as drug trafficking, arms and weapons trafficking, kidnapping and extortion.” Finn went on to cite a study conducted by Mexico’s Attorney General stating that the Familia cartel earns more than $2.2 million each day — over $800 million annually — from sales of counterfeit goods.

[Via Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

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Microsoft on Tuesday launched a new version of its OneNote mobile application for Apple’s iOS platform. Compatibile with the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, OneNote allows iPhone users to create, edit and sync notes using Microsoft’s popular cloud-based note-taking solution. OneNote is part of Microsoft’s famed Office suite of products, and is the first Office application to be built by Microsoft for the iOS platform. Microsoft, which has launched several other apps for iOS in the past, has not specifically stated whether or not it intends to launch additional apps for iOS. Instead, a company executive said only that Microsoft would continue to expand Office across several platforms. Hit the break for a link to the Microsoft’s OneNote app in iTunes, which is available for free, though only for a limited time.

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Earlier today, Microsoft finally announced the Office for Mac 2011 ship date, and it’s October 26th. We exclusively showed you Office for Mac 2011 way back in March, and started playing around with the software suite in April. We have been waiting for a PC-like version of Office for the Mac OS, well, forever, and we’re glad to see it finally get close to a general release. The thing we’re most excited about? Outlook 2011 and the great Exchange integration. Sorry, Mail.app, it was nice knowing you. In typical Microsoftness, there will be different flavors of Office: Home and Student Edition, Home and Business, as well as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel available independently for purchase.

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Reuters is reporting that search giant Google had an office in Seoul, South Korea raided by police earlier today. The Korean National Police Agency said they “have been investigating Google Korea LLC on suspicion of unauthorized collection and storage of data on unspecified Internet users from Wi-Fi networks.” Google has been collecting data in South Korea since late last year in preparation for the launch of the Street View service. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission, as well as other European governments, are also looking into allegations that Google illegally collected and stored information from Wi-Fi networks while conducting its Street View surveys. Google has yet to comment on the South Korean raid.

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Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac has been given an official release date month and pricing structure. Sometime in October, Office 2011 por la Mac will be released in two flavors, Home and Student Edition and Home and Office Edition. The Home and Student offering will come with Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Messenger, while Home and Business Edition will include all of the aforementioned programs as well as Microsoft’s redesigned email client Outlook. A single-user install of Home and Student will retail for $119 and a family pack of three-installs can be purchased for $149. A single-install of Home and Business will retail for $199 and a multi-pack that allows installation on two machines can be purchased for $279. From now until November 30th, if you buy Office 2008 you will be eligible to upgrade to Office 2011 for free. Anyone excited?

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Microsoft has posted a one and a half minute video teaser of Microsoft Office 2011 up on YouTube. The video lets you know that Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook all come with the Ribbon interface, and that Office and Messenger have been completely redesigned. If you are interested in a very high level overview of the new software hit the jump, the video is waiting for you.

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Oh man, this is definitely not something we wanted to hear: Microsoft has announced on its blog that Office for Mac 2011 will only ship as a 32-bit version. Citing a need for enhanced compatibility between the Office for Windows and Office for Mac over high-power performance, Microsoft said that it would not have been possible for its team to create a 64-bit version of Office 2011″because Apple’s frameworks require us to complete the move to Cocoa before we can build a 64-bit version.” Office 2011 is not 100% Cocoa. Microsoft is downplaying the lack of 64-bit support by stating that “most users with typical or even larger-than-average document content will not notice a difference in performance” and that the only area “64-bit can make a difference is for people working with huge amounts of data.” You know, like the professionals who are champing at the bit for Office 2011 and its inclusion of Outlook.

[Via ZDNet]

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