drkrleitch

bulldogs said:

The iPad Pro outselling the Surface is not surprising or notable in any way. Instead, the story is that Surface sales were dramatically higher this quarter than they were in previous holiday periods, making this the first Microsoft success story in hardware since, well, ever. And the increased revenue from their Surface sales were more than enough to offset yet another decline in their traditional software business (not to be confused with their newer cloud and "Office Anywhere" business which continued to increase). In other words, comparing Surface sales to iPad Pro sales contrives to turn success into failure. The real story is that the Surface took Microsoft from practically nothing - and indeed losing billions of dollars - in this space to actually making money and being a factor. Sure, a factor with a niche product, but a factor nonetheless that they can build on, which they are going to try to do by releasing Surface-branded phones targeting enterprise/business customers this year. Claiming otherwise is akin to claiming that Huawei, Asus and Oppo failed this year because they didn't move as many smartphones as Samsung and Apple. Instead, the Surface can be akin to the Chromebook. It was a bad product - a money losing failure - for years when they had their initial strategy of trying to compete directly with Microsoft and steal Windows laptop owners. But instead when they found a niche - the education market as well as promoting the devices as being part of an ecosystem for devoted Android fans by offering Google Play store credits for whoever bought them and pushing their ability to cast Chrome OS tabs to Chromecast and Android TV devices - their market share went from nothing to being 2.8% of all computers sold this year. A threat to Microsoft or Apple on profits? No. But their own niche that they can continue to cultivate and grow? Of course, especially if they can somehow get kids who use them in schools and also have budget Android phones to adopt them for home use. (Google doesn't seem smart enough to promote this angle right now, choosing to instead use the same millennial-driven advertising campaigns that practically everyone else in the tech industry does, but they still could in theory.) And it is a good development. Mac OS X and iOS does not meet everyone's needs or preferences. Having choices - and good ones - is healthy for the marketplace. And since it is impossible for anyone to claim that Microsoft was copying Apple with the Surface line, there is no reason to begrudge Microsoft's being successful at offering an alternative to Apple products for those who want - and especially those who legitimately need - them.