Our database, business intelligence, and data warehousing solutions offerings compete with products from providers in the data and analytics industry. Our system management solutions compete with server management and server virtualization platform providers. Our products for software developers compete against offerings from major technology providers, as well as open source alternatives.
We believe our server products provide customers with advantages in performance, total costs of ownership, and productivity by delivering superior applications, development tools, compatibility with a broad base of hardware and software applications, security, and manageability.
Our Enterprise and partner services business competes with a wide range of companies that provide strategy and business planning, application development, and infrastructure services, including multinational consulting firms and small niche businesses focused on specific technologies.
More Personal Computing
Our More Personal Computing segment consists of products and services that put customers at the center of the experience with our technology. This segment primarily comprises:
• Windows and Devices, including Windows OEM licensing (Windows Pro and non-Pro licenses sold through the OEM channel) and Devices, comprising Surface and PC accessories.
• Gaming, including Xbox hardware and Xbox content and services, comprising first- and third-party content (including games and in-game content), Xbox Game Pass and other subscriptions, Xbox Cloud Gaming, advertising, and other cloud services.
• Search and news advertising, comprising Bing and Copilot, Microsoft News, Microsoft Edge, and third-party affiliates.
Windows and Devices
The Windows operating system is designed to deliver a more personal computing experience for users by enabling consistency of experience, applications, and information across their devices. Windows OEM revenue is impacted significantly by the number of Windows operating system licenses purchased by OEMs, which they pre-install on the devices they sell. In addition to computing device market volume, Windows OEM revenue is impacted by:
• The mix of computing devices based on form factor and screen size.
• Differences in device market demand between developed markets and growth markets.
• Growth of the AI PC category.
• Attachment of Windows to devices shipped.
• Customer mix between consumer, small and medium businesses, and large enterprises.
• Changes in inventory levels in the OEM channel.
• Pricing changes and promotions, pricing variation that occurs when the mix of devices manufactured shifts from local and regional system builders to large multinational OEMs, and different pricing of Windows versions licensed.
• Constraints in the supply chain of device components.
• Piracy.
We design and sell devices, such as Surface (including Copilot+ PCs) and PC accessories. Our devices are designed to enable people and organizations to connect to the people and content that matter most using Windows and integrated Microsoft products and services. Surface is designed to help organizations, students, and consumers be more productive. Growth in Devices is dependent on total PC shipments, the ability to attract new customers, our product roadmap, and expanding into new categories.
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