In the following video, Fool analysts Austin Smith and Charly Travers discuss how to filter out the noise around Microsoft's new products and evaluate the company's true opportunities.
Charly says there are three areas that investors should show pay close attention to moving forward:
- How well the recently released Windows 8 gains traction both with businesses and consumers.
- How well Microsoft Office 2013 performs, now that Google has made significant inroads into the business market Microsoft had long owned.
- Whether Microsoft can really crack the mobile-phone market and start building a significant market share. Microsoft has had no presence in that fast-growing market. Windows 8 will give it the opportunity. Charly is looking for handset sales of 100 million worldwide. That's still a long way from the sales of Android handsets and iPhones, but it would be a start.
If Microsoft and handset partner Nokia can get their ducks in a line, they could disrupt the mobile market, Austin says.
