Microsoft profit falls slightly on stale PC growth

SEATTLE, USA: Microsoft Corp posted a small dip in quarterly profit on Thursday as sales of personal computers lagged expectations and Apple Inc's iPad started to eat away at the fringes of its core market.

The world's largest software maker, which powers more than 90 per cent of the world's computers, reported fiscal second-quarter profit of $6.63 billion, or 77 cents per share. That compared with $6.66 billion, or 74 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. The per share figure was higher due to a reduction in shares outstanding from last year.

Year-ago profit was boosted by a one-time deferral of revenue from the launch of its hot-selling Windows 7 operating system.

Wall Street was expecting 68 cents per share profit, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales rose 5 per cent to $19.95 billion, helped by strong sales of its Kinect hands-free gaming system, handily beating analysts' average estimate of $19.15 billion.

Microsoft's shares were flat after rising on Nasdaq. They are down about 3 percent over the past 12 months.