The Motley Fool has a look at Microsoft’s latest financial results under the catchy heading 3 Reasons Microsoft Corporation’s Stock Could Fall.
They note that there’s been strong growth in Microsoft’s cloud computing service calling it “arguably its single most important business segment”. There are competitors like Amazon Web Services and Salesforce. However Microsoft has a big advantage over those services – Office.
Microsoft’s efforts over the last few years has been to entangle Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc in with their own cloud services. Azure for databases, Exchange Server for email, contacts, calendar etc, OneDrive for file storage. The aim is to make it hard, if not impossible, for Microsoft Office users to switch away from Redmond’s cloud.
There is now 12.4 million consumers paying an annual fee for Office software instead of paying for each version when they want to. It’s been a triumph for Microsoft marketing.
Google and Apple are competitors but Microsoft has moved to undermine their main advantage. The release of Microsoft Office software for iPhone, iPad and Android makes it harder for a rival to get traction. Gone are the days when Office was primarily on Windows devices and Microsoft tried (and failed) to use that as a lever to stop people buying Apple or Android devices.
