| TheWPCTraveler said: Microsoft needs XBOX. What other consumer brand does Microsoft have? Windows still has a rather bad image, and the rest of Microsoft's lineup are largely either seen as dead, near-dead, or enterprise. |
It kind of depends on the perspective, though. On the consumer side, yes, the Xbox is a big, important part of Microsoft, very visible and recognized.
From the perspective of a lot of shareholders, however, the Xbox division is just this thing that saps money from the bottom line, especially this early in the gen, and the thing about Microsoft is they are VERY pro-bottom line. They squeeze profit out of their operations as much as humanly possible- right down to the, er, enthusiastic use of permatemp employees who do the same hours/duties are full employees, but at less pay, and few if any benefits- and have just generally been kind of Scrooge McDuck-y. They usually only throw money at something in the hopes of achieving the same sort of dominance that Windows gave them, thus Bing, Windows Phones, even Xbox, all efforts to take over markets ruled by Google, Apple, and at the moment shared with Sony and Nintendo.
The income from those products bring very, very little profit, if any, with the money-makers by FAR being their computer software and service divisions. A lot of their income comes not even from individuals purchasing Windows for their home computers, but from businesses, governments, etc, buying bulk licenses for LOTS of money.
Zanten, Doer Of The Things
Unless He Forgets In Which Case Zanten, Forgetter Of The Things
Or He Procrascinates, In Which Case Zanten, Doer Of The Things Later
Or It Involves Moving Furniture, in Which Case Zanten, F*** You.
