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Microsoft Surface Estimated to Have Sold Only 1.7 Million Units Since Launch

This article from Forbes was widely quoted back in January. So what's the "buzz" now, buzz marketing?

“Teens are telling us Apple is done,” says Tina Wells of the youth marketing agency Buzz Marketing Group. “Apple has done a great job of embracing Gen X and older [Millennials], but I don’t think they are connecting with Millennial kids. [They’re] all about Surface tablets/laptops and Galaxy.”
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lol
 
HoopTrundler said:
That's all anecdotal evidence... I know many people who have had problems with OSX. I've been using Windows all my life, and I've never had a major issue with it. And Windows 7 actually is a huge improvement over a lot of their older iterations, at least in my experience.
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Sorry. Old critters like me do have baaad memories :-D
 
RT was DOA. You really going to make an OS on which the legacy apps cannot run and expect all the people in the world that use windows (a lot) to just start over? They won't.

Hopefully for MS: Haswell and Broadwell wil eliminate the use for an ARM based Windows product.
 
BeyondtheTech said:
I like their strategy. I like it a lot.

Too bad, Sinofsky was so convinced that clicking sound it made would have sold itself. That, and that optically-bonded display, whatever that meant.
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Was that strategy line a Ballmer burn? lol
 
minifridge1138 said:
When the Surface RT was released I was curious, so I went to a Microsoft Store to play with one.

I had tried Windows 8 on a desktop and was unimpressed.
Using windows 8 on a touch screen definitely felt more natural.

But I still felt it was a B- product (8/10ths of a good product):
The cover/keyboard was unpredictable: some keys worked with a slight touch and others had to be pressed hard.
The hardware is underpowered: I used IE to browse CNN and IMDB. In both cases, the page would render part way, I'd try to touch a link, then the page would finish loading. BUT it knew I had clicked on the screen and would register the click AFTER the page had loaded. Which would be a little annoying, except that after the page loaded a completely different element was in the location that I touched (the link that had been there when I touched had moved somewhere else) and it redirected me to whatever random link occupied the coordinates I had touched. Lesson: wait for the page to load before trying to use the web.

I haven't played with a Surface Pro, but I'd imagine it doesn't suffer from the second problem (which in theory could be fixed with a software update).

YMMV.
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Windows 7 has the "delayed click of random link" syndrome as well. I'm not sure if the Pro is your answer.
 
i pity those who have bought this failure. Even after those dreadful jokes they cracked in those ads. :rolleyes:
 
A Hebrew said:
With the current price the only thing holding the Surface back is the OS. Once Windows 9 comes out and fixes the necessary flaws in Windows 8 it will be a stellar tablet.
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They'll change the GUI again in Windows 9, just to confuse people even more.
 
coolspot18 said:
Microsoft Surface is actually a pretty good product ... better than Android or even iOS in some respects.
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You're absolutely right. I can't even remember the last time my iPhone blue-screened. Try to copy that level of instability, Apple.

But on a note of seriousness, I genuinely can't believe you think the Surface is a good product. It's absolutely abysmal. You do realise that you can say: 'the Surface sucks' and it doesn't automatically make you an iSheep? Have some standards for what you buy, man.
 
I actually like the look of the Surface Pro. I've played around with a friend's one and it seems decent.

It will be interesting to see what the 2nd and 3rd generation brings.

Edit: Surface Pro. Haven't used the RT so I have no comment on it
 
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The biggest problem with Surface RT: it cannot run legacy Windows applications. No wonder why it failed.

And now with Intel's new Haswell technology CPU's and related chipsets, Micosoft can now roll out Surface models using the regular Windows 8.1 that will have long battery life and run legacy Windows apps if needed.
 
One of the fundamental challenges with Win8 tablets vs. iPads is that they are just a little more complex to operate. There a more gestures, side-swipes etc. to learn. And the magic of iPads is exactly the lack of complexity. They are so simple to operate that a 2 yr old can do it.
I think potential customers can feel that. And they sure feel it, when they see the "real" windows experience hidden underneath the non-RT version.

Diode said:
Steve nailed it again:

"When sales guys run the company, the product guys don't matter so much, and a lot of them turn off. It happened at Apple ... and happened when Ballmer took over Microsoft ... I don't think anything will change at Microsoft as long as Ballmer is running it."
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Awesome. Where/when did he say that?
 
RT was always a mistake with Surface Pro's around the corner. I've no need or desire for a Surface Pro, but I can understand the point of their existence. The RT otoh, was the best at nothing and just a jumble of compromises.
 
donutbagel said:
Except when Microsoft actually wins and forces everyone to use their stuff. I'm just hoping that Apple wins but won't take so much market share that it's basically a monopoly. Maybe 60% is good. Oh, and I want my 2 friends who use Windows to switch so I don't have to use freaking Skype and Facebook to accommodate them.
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That's the thing - Microsoft has had a monopoly for a long time (with PCs)... Now that they have to compete, if they DO win the product/service they'll win with will have to actually be good.
 
MultiMediaWill said:
That's what happens when you release a s*** product.
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Have you used one? It's a great product.

In fact I bought a Dell XPS10 with Windows RT and I am impressed.

It can fileshare, it allows PowerShell remoting; it's much more flexible than an iPad. Application availability is not nearly as good as for the iPad, but that's not a fauly of the product. (Besides, Mac users know plenty of excuses why application availability is not as important as other features.)

The real problem with Microsoft's Surface is that they did everything in their power not to sell it.

In 2012 Microsoft simply didn't sell the Surface in Switzerland. You couldn't even order it from another country. They just wouldn't sell it to Switzerland.

Then Microsoft made it imossible to order or buy the Surface with any keyboard Dock but the local language one. I wanted an English or American keyboard. Microsoft does not allow such a choice. Dell does, but you have to call them, it cannot be done online. It's ridiculous.

Apple's great advantage is the Apple Store, online and offline.

I bought a MacBook Air last year and I was able to bye the Air with an American keyboard no problem. The only problem with the Air was the fauly battery and the discovery that Apple's solution to the problem of non-replaceable batteries was to ignore the problem. So I had to bring the Air to the local Apple Store and three days later they had replaced the battery (with another faulty one but that was coincidence).

So both companies have problems. Microsoft refuses to sell me things and then complains that nobody buys their product. And Apple finds it acceptable to leave me without my laptop for several days.

But Windows RT is a solid product. The tiles interface is in fact easier and more intuitive than the iOS interface. And the fact that desktop mode exists to run legacy apps (Office and some Windows accessories in RT's case) is a distinct advantage over the iPad. Finally, the inclusion of PowerShell (including remoting) and file sharing is icing on the cake. Apple's iPad does not even come close.
 
mrsir2009 said:
That's the thing - Microsoft has had a monopoly for a long time (with PCs)... Now that they have to compete, if they DO win the product/service they'll win with will have to actually be good.
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But the best product does not always win. I think SMS is a great example of that.

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macs4nw said:
One of my favorite pet peeves also. FaceTime was supposed to have become an open industry standard, but that unfortunately never materialized. Source: http://www.fiercedeveloper.com/story/facetime-open-standard-never-happened/2012-12-06
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Oh yeah, FaceTime is frustratingly limited. Until recently, I couldn't even use it on my Mac!
 
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MultiMediaWill said:
That's what happens when you release a s*** product.
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Stop being ignorant. Having used one, I can safely say that it's a great product.

Microsoft just need to make it more widely available as you can't walk in to a store or even order it from many websites apart from a few select partners and from Microsoft direct.

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coolfactor said:
People are saying the Surface is a good product, but it's still Windows!
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That's the major selling point. You are aware that billions of people actively use Windows every day, right?

For business, Windows tablets don't need third party workarounds, every Admins group policies will happily work just fine.
 
SockRolid said:
Agree. Skating to where the puck was.
Xbox One is still a legacy gaming platform.
Plus a mandatory cable TV connection.
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I wish they were at least more back where the puck was and not where nobody wants it to be ;)

I don't know if it's just me, but I can't stand the Xbox 360 or PS3 with their naggy interfaces... like Facebook but worse. The Xbox One looks twice as bad. And the Wii has a good interface, but (very, very sadly) Nintendo has stopped making good games :(:(:(
 
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A Hebrew said:
With the current price the only thing holding the Surface back is the OS. Once Windows 9 comes out and fixes the necessary flaws in Windows 8 it will be a stellar tablet.
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The only way that it'll "fix" the flaws is if they either:

A) Split Windows into two operating systems (i.e like we have iOS and OS X) on the same (but way slimmer) core

B) Completely remove the existing long-standing Windows UI in favor of going metro-only.

There is no chance in hell Windows as a full OS will ever work on a tablet - thats the reason people aren't buying these things - its near impossible to use them for anything other than what's on Metro.

There's also the fact that Ballmer is pushing to get Surface 2 and Windows 9 out the door ASAP. We all know what that means. Compromise, and when Microsoft compromises and pushes a release out too quickly (like Ballmer did with his first OS attempt as CEO - Vista) it all goes to pot.

Until they oust Ballmer, the company will continue to produce crap half-assed products.
 
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