AlHijjah 20, 1434, October 25, 2013, SPA -- Microsoft denied its many detractors Thursday posting a 19-per-cent rise in first-quarter operating income and a 16-per-cent jump in sales, dpa reported. The company has come in for widespread criticism for falling behind Apple and other rivals in smartphones and tablet computers, which threaten Microsoft's PC-based product lines. Long-serving chief executive Steve Ballmer is set to leave the company within a year, in a sign of the need for a new direction. The maker of Windows and Office is far from dead, though, as it boosted profits to 5.3 billion dollars and revenue to 18.5 billion dollars, Microsoft said in its quarterly earnings report. Sales of hardware like the Xbox video game system rose 4 per cent, and Microsoft said it sold twice as many Surface tablets as it did in the prior quarter. The company said its cloud services performed strongly, more than doubling revenue from a year ago. "Our execution is showing signs of strength across the entire business," said Lisa nelson, Microsoft's director of investor relations. "We haven't missed a beat in terms of sales expectations." The positive report sent shares in the software giant up 6 per cent in after-hours trading. -- SPA 11:10 LOCAL TIME 08:10 GMT تغريد
