Microsoft weighs rise of netbooks
Seattle PI | at | by Mike
After Microsoft reported its first-quarter earnings last month, analysts jumped on a gap in the numbers: Although computer makers had bought more copies of Microsoft's operating systems, the resulting revenue decreased.
Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell attributed the discrepancy partly to the explosive growth of a new category of ultracheap laptops, known as netbooks, that typically run cheaper versions of Microsoft's operating systems.
It was too early, Liddell said, to determine whether netbooks would cannibalize sales of the company's traditional operating systems or create a new market.