| Ail said:
Microsoft's revenue is mostly recuring but only because so far they have managed to convince customers to purchase new versions of OS or office products which lets be honest are not huge upgrades compared to the previous versions. And as the PC market shrinks their potential market shrinks too... |
I agree with your post for the most part, but on the subject of Microsoft, I would like to point a few things out.
I personally believe the PC market is shrinking because we aren't seeing enough innovation in the hardware. Most people will need their laptop for tasks that do not require a huge amount of power, so people are finding new PCs less attractive, because they're already being served well by their laptop, both for using on the go and in the home. So the market needs to be reinvigorated, and I personally believe tablets can do this.
Having a tablet with the functionality of an EeePad Transformer or an EeePad Slider combined with the versality of a PC could make for a very attractive piece of kit if you can control it right. And that's exactly what I'm seeing in Windows 8, an OS that allows you to control your hardware in a more casual way without being clunky, but allows you to quickly change it to a proper work device if you need to.
The iPad has proven there is a market for tablets, but having a tablet that can actually replace your laptop is much more exciting to me than anything currently on the market. And Microsoft seems to get that, so I hope they do it right, and Windows 8 becomes a success for them on that front.
On another front, Microsoft might be able to invigorate both PC and Xbox sales with an added focus on Kinect and the possibilities it brings. While it's unclear how Microsoft will use it going forward (it's definitely here to stay on Xbox, but what might their plans be for PC?), they've certainly proven that people want this sort of interaction with their technology. So if Microsoft can make the Xbox the goto choice for media, gaming and related services, it will only keep growing.
