No 'loss leader,' says Microsoft COO; Windows 10 slated for release in late summer, early fall 2015
Microsoft last week doused speculation that it would make Windows free across the board.
"We've not had any conversations [about] Windows 10 being a loss leader for us," Kevin Turner, Microsoft's chief operating officer, said at a
technology conference sponsored by Credit Suisse on Thursday. "[But] we've got to monetize it differently. There are additional opportunities for us to bring additional services to the product and do it in a creative way."
Turner was short on specifics, but spelled out in general terms those opportunities, saying that new business models will allow the company "to monetize the lifetime of that customer" by selling them services and what he called "add-ons."
Most analysts have assumed that Microsoft will continue to expand its Windows-for-free practices to keep customers within its ecosystem, then sell them other products, including services and subscriptions, to make up the Windows revenue decline. Microsoft already gives away its Windows Phone OS and Windows 8.1 for devices with screens 9-in. and smaller, even subsidizes Windows 8.1 for OEMs' ultra-low-priced laptops.
