Microsoft 2011 Annual Report Download - page 3

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Partnerships and Acquisitions
Strategic partnerships and acquisitions have always played an important role in Microsoft’s strategy for growth
and technology leadership. Fiscal year 2011 saw a number of critical moves that will play a key role in our future
growth.
During the fall of 2010, we completed the integration of Yahoo! search with Bing, and by the close of fiscal year
2011, Bing and Yahoo! together powered more than one-quarter of all U.S. searches. In May, we announced a
new partnership with Facebook that enables us to deliver personalized search results that are based on friends’
opinions. This data helps people make decisions more quickly and easily based on recommendations that are
personal, more relevant, and reflect the wisdom and experience of known and trusted friends.
In February, we announced an important partnership with Nokia aimed at building a new mobile ecosystem that
will pave the way for choice and opportunity for consumers, mobile network operators, and developers. Through
this partnership, Nokia will primarily develop and sell Windows Phones as the two companies work together on
mobile technology design, development, and marketing initiatives that in the next year will bring Windows Phones
to a much wider range of market segments and geographies across a much broader range of price points.
We announced in May our intention to acquire Skype, the world’s leading provider of real-time Internet video and
voice communications services and technology. Skype is a perfect fit with Microsoft’s core vision to unleash our
customers’ productivity and creativity by making it easier for them to communicate and work together. With the
acquisition of Skype and requisite regulatory approval, we’ll connect hundreds of millions of people and provide
them exciting new ways to communicate and create on PCs, phones, the Xbox, and through applications like
Office and Lync.
Big Bets for the Future
At Microsoft, we believe the most engaging digital experiences will grow out of the combination of four things:
smart devices, cloud-based services, natural forms of interaction between people and technology, and finally,
people’s imaginations.
We will continue to create and sell great software that people use every day at work, at home and everywhere in
between. Increasingly, the full value and benefit of software will be optimized and expressed in the services and
devices that people use at work and in their personal lives. So increasingly, we will view ourselves as a devices
and services company.
We believe the number of devices on which software will run will increase dramatically. We’ll continue to build
some devices like the Xbox and work in close partnership with PC, tablet, phone, and other manufacturers around
the world to design powerful and compelling devices that consumers love and businesses need.
We are looking ahead to Windows 8 with confidence and excitement. We are creating a reimagined version of
Windows that builds on the advancements in cloud computing, on touch interfaces and other natural ways to
interact with technology. Without compromise, we will deliver the security, reliability and manageability businesses
require, along with personalized and seamless connections to information, people, services, and applications
across the variety of devices people use.
For services, we’ll continue betting on the cloud for both businesses and consumers. For businesses, we’re
focused on enabling all of our products for the cloud including continuing our work with Windows Azure, Office
365, and Microsoft Dynamics services. For consumers, we’re focused on Skype, Bing, Windows Live and Xbox
Live.