Appearances can be deceiving: Despite its outwardly flailing demeanor, Microsoft has just announced record revenue and profits for Q2 2014 (calendar Q4 2013). On the back of strong Xbox One and 360 sales, and good growth by its commercial licensing divisions, Microsoft managed to bring in $24.5 billion in revenue and $8 billion profit. While Windows remained strong in the commercial/business sector, the consumer sector continues to see reduced demand (and thus revenue and profits. Microsoft continues to obfuscate the actual number of Surface tablets sold, but it did say that revenue and units sold doubled in the last quarter — but sadly, so did the costs of selling those devices. Surface, for the second year running, is still a loss maker.
