Weekly Tech Summary: Microsoft & Amazon

-0.60%
Downside
421
Market
419
Trefis
MSFT: Microsoft logo
MSFT
Microsoft

This week saw a lot of developments in the tech sector, with most of them related to major companies like Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). We analyze a few such developments which could impact their value in the coming years.

Microsoft

Last week, Microsoft acquired Yammer for $1.2 billion, and also announced the Surface tablet running Windows 8. It also announced Windows Phone 8 which will bring Windows Phone closer to Windows, and Windows Phone 7.8 which will be the last supported OS upgrade for the current batch of devices.

Relevant Articles
  1. Up Nearly 70% Since The Beginning Of 2023, Where Is Microsoft Stock Headed?
  2. Up 63% Since The Beginning Of 2023, How Will Microsoft Stock Trend After Q2 Earnings?
  3. Microsoft Stock Is Up 45% YTD And Outperformed The Consensus In Q1
  4. Microsoft Stock Outperformed The Expectations In Q4
  5. Microsoft Stock Is Fairly Priced At The Current Levels
  6. What To Expect From Microsoft Stock In Q3?

This week, rumors arose again that Microsoft was planning to launch a new Xbox music service similar to Spotify, which would come with download and cloud storage options like Apple’s iTunes. It is apparently negotiating deals with Universal, Warner, Sony and EMI.

It also outlined its Windows 8 upgrade plans in detail, announcing how the upgrade schemes will be arranged and priced. Finally, it also started rolling out Windows Phone Tango updates to Nokia Lumia 710 and 800 users. Tango is a version of Windows Phone targeted at budget devices.

We currently have a $40 Trefis price estimate for Microsoft, which stands nearly 30% above its market price.

Check out our complete analysis of Microsoft

Amazon

Google seems to have declared war on Amazon this week. At the Google I/O 2012 conference, it launched a number of products which would compete directly with Amazon’s offerings. Google’s new Nexus 7 tablet competes directly with Amazon’s Kindle Fire, which is priced in the same range. Its new Compute Engine service will go up against Amazon Web Services, which is currently the 800 pound gorilla in the cloud computing infrastructure space.

The other news related to Amazon this week were rumors that it is working on new variants of the Kindle Fire, which could possibly be launched in July. That would give it a fighting chance against Google’s Nexus 7 tablet. Amazon is also apparently working to add social features to games for the Kindle Fire, in a bid to increase downloads and in-app purchases and boost the software ecosystem for the tablet. Amazon makes money from tablets primarily by selling content.

We currently have a $220 Trefis price estimate for Amazon which stands near its market price.

Check out our complete analysis of Amazon