![]() As consumers turn to smartphones and tablets, Windows is fading – as will Microsoft’s Office suite, which is being shifted to a cloud-based subscription service rather than a PC-based application. Nadella’s official statements on the deal use typical tech verbiage like “social selling” and “human capital management”, buzzwords used by the professional groups that Microsoft increasingly looks to for its financial future. Nadella cited the potential of walking into a meeting and, through LinkedIn’s integration with a calendar and database, know all the salient details about the attendees. But it is its back-office systems, and especially software for large businesses to manage their IT and customer relations, that really generate cash and profits. ![]() To consumers, Microsoft’s best-known brands are Windows, Office and Xbox. ![]() Nadella is much more positive, saying that the deal widens the market for Microsoft products and gives the company access to the social network phenomenon. Crucially, 60% of usage is on mobile devices, which is an important metric given how much time professionals spend on their smartphones.Īt $255 per active user, “this is a very expensive transaction”, says technology consultant Richard Windsor. It has 433 million members, of whom 105 million use it at least every month. While helping people find new jobs, the company founded by Reid Hoffman in 2002 also gives leads to recruiters and salespeople looking to sell products and services to expanding companies. ![]() But millions rely on the service, whose entries show members’ past and current jobs as well as who they know. LinkedIn’s emails, with their pervasive phrase “I’d like you to join my professional network”, may seem like a scourge to some. ![]()
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