Microsoft Surface RT & Pro estimated to have sold 1.5M units total
Microsoft's answer to the iPad, the Surface RT and Surface Pro tablets, have stumbled out of the gates, moving just 1.5 million units since launch, according to a new report.
Of that 1.5 million, the Surface RT, launched in October, accounts for 1.1 million, Bloomberg reporter Dina Bass tweeted on Thursday. Surface RT is meant, along with other Windows RT tablets, to be a lower-cost alternative to Apple's iPad, which moved 23 million units last quarter.
The Surface Pro, which runs a full version of Windows 8 and is compatible with legacy Windows applications, has moved just under half a million units in the weeks since its January launch. Microsoft markets the Surface Pro as more of a laptop replacement than a consumer tablet, and it is priced accordingly.
When the software giant introduced its first major foray into computing hardware last summer, a number of its hardware partners were less than thrilled at the prospect of having to compete with the company that supplies them with an operating system. Microsoft attempted to assuage OEM fears by assuring them that the Surface was meant more to demonstrate potential form factors that they could emulate, not as the opening salvo of a hardware struggle.
Since introducing the tablets, though, the company has expanded the team working on Surface hardware, with job listings hinting at a next generation of the device. There have also been rumors that Microsoft is working on a 7-inch version of the device to compete with the iPad mini. That version, according to some reports, may feature connectivity with Microsoft's successful Xbox 360 video game console.
No matter the sales of its Surface devices ? which are said to be at or near the top among Windows 8 computers ? it appears that Microsoft is not looking to exit the hardware segment any time soon. Company representatives have revealed previously that the company will keep trying to market the tablets until they find a winning strategy.
Of that 1.5 million, the Surface RT, launched in October, accounts for 1.1 million, Bloomberg reporter Dina Bass tweeted on Thursday. Surface RT is meant, along with other Windows RT tablets, to be a lower-cost alternative to Apple's iPad, which moved 23 million units last quarter.
The Surface Pro, which runs a full version of Windows 8 and is compatible with legacy Windows applications, has moved just under half a million units in the weeks since its January launch. Microsoft markets the Surface Pro as more of a laptop replacement than a consumer tablet, and it is priced accordingly.
When the software giant introduced its first major foray into computing hardware last summer, a number of its hardware partners were less than thrilled at the prospect of having to compete with the company that supplies them with an operating system. Microsoft attempted to assuage OEM fears by assuring them that the Surface was meant more to demonstrate potential form factors that they could emulate, not as the opening salvo of a hardware struggle.
Since introducing the tablets, though, the company has expanded the team working on Surface hardware, with job listings hinting at a next generation of the device. There have also been rumors that Microsoft is working on a 7-inch version of the device to compete with the iPad mini. That version, according to some reports, may feature connectivity with Microsoft's successful Xbox 360 video game console.
No matter the sales of its Surface devices ? which are said to be at or near the top among Windows 8 computers ? it appears that Microsoft is not looking to exit the hardware segment any time soon. Company representatives have revealed previously that the company will keep trying to market the tablets until they find a winning strategy.
Comments
Translation? "We'll try and sell these damn things if IT KILLS US!"
I played with one at best buy yesterday. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great.
LOL. Remember all the breathless 'iPad killer' nonsense from tech press last October!?
What a bunch of dweebs (I mean the technorati too).
I think someone needs to start a "Steve Balmer will be fired ..." countdown clock or something.
And the Surface Pro which runs the real Windows has no advantages over competing laptops often priced cheaper with better specs. They are in a lose lose situation with no easy answer.
People simply don't use tablets the same as computers. Their only hope is for Windows phone 8 to take off (very unlikely) and if the Windows RT is compatible with those apps then it might carve out a small niche.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghostface147
I played with one at best buy yesterday. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great.
I think it's plain old bad hardware.
I hate Windows personally, but after having played with the Surface RT, the Surface Pro, and a few of the Windows 8 laptops, the Windows 8 laptops win hands down. A much cheaper and much better Windows 8 experience can be had on an inexpensive lightweight touch-screen laptop than a Surface IMO. I don't see why anyone would actually want a Surface instead of just a plain old laptop.
What people forget is that the Surface really is a laptop. It's a convertible/hybrid laptop by design. It only really works in landscape view, and even then, only when it's sitting on a table. In those very, very few times that it's configuration could be haltingly described as "tablet mode" ... it's a horrible, horrible tablet.
So in effect, Microsoft's response to mobile devices and tablets eating up the PC market was to ... come out with a new PC, that's not very mobile, and not really a tablet.
Unfortunately Windows 8 is nothing but Windows with a layer of tiles on top making it difficult to use, and with problems similar to Vista.
MS has some fantastic applications that could make them a bundle if they released these on Mac, Windows and Linux.
They should separate their applications business from the OS business.
Where's all the Surface Pro fans now? Didn't they say the world was waiting for a "real" tablet than can do "real" computing?
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
LOL. Remember all the breathless 'iPad killer' nonsense from tech press last October!?
What a bunch of dweebs (I mean the technorati too).
I must have missed that. General consensus from the press I looked at was that it was an overpriced hybrid device that would confuse consumers and wouldn't even make a dent in Android tablet sales let alone ipad.
I'm amazed 1.5M have sold, I have yet to see anyone using one.
Before the killer response to the iPhone and iPad, 1.5 million units would not have been considered to be bad performance. But Apple has changed the entire definition of what it means to launch new successful products. Unfortunately for everyone (including Apple) that has changed expectations to absurd heights.
I've posted this several times before, but these are the amount of times that new technologies took to achieve just 1 million units:
Months
iPad (4/2010)
28 days
DVD
21
XM Satellite
23
CD Players
28
MP3 Players
28
Radio
39
TV
40
DVR
53
VCR
58
Online Subscr. Services
114
Cable TV
144
Satellite TV
144
All numbers except for the iPad are from Greystone Communications, Yankee Group. I find the TV number suspect because TV actually launched in July of 1941 and TV did not achieve 1 million units by 1945. I suspect they mean the relaunch of TV after WWII.
Originally Posted by zoetmb
Months
iPad (4/2010)
28 days
DVD
21
XM Satellite
23
CD Players
28
MP3 Players
28
Radio
39
TV
40
DVR
53
VCR
58
Online Subscr. Services
114
Cable TV
144
Satellite TV
144
What are the numbers for the first-gen iPad? That would be a much better metric.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
What are the numbers for the first-gen iPad? That would be a much better metric.
Well it was 3 million in less than 3 months (80 days), so for the first gen that number would be 1 month or less.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jdsonice
Unfortunately Windows 8 is nothing but Windows with a layer of tiles on top making it difficult to use, and with problems similar to Vista.
Can you explain what you mean by "problems similar to Vista"? I haven't heard any complaints about performance, where it seems to be better than Windows 7. (That said, I'm still not going to update my Windows 7 laptop.)