The Surface is selling awfully, Windows 8 is trash, Microsoft is doomed. Or at least that is what the anti-MS crowd would want you to believe.
We are constantly hearing new drama about how the Surface isn’t selling like the iPad or even Google’s latest trendiest Nexus device or perhaps Samsung’s newest Android tablet. We also keep hearing the sob stories about how Microsoft Windows 8 changed too much and that it is impossible to get over things.
Microsoft isn’t worried folks, at least no more than any business should be. The folks at Redmond would be idiots if they weren’t concerned over some of the bad blood and trash talking that both the Surface and Windows 8 is causing – but I’ve said it dozens of times now, Microsoft is in for the long haul.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither were big tech empires like Apple. Apple might have shot up pretty suddenly as the iPod caught on, and then the iPhone, but it was all about laying the ground work that led to that glorious moment.
For Microsoft, Windows 8 and the Surface are that same groundwork. They might not be perfect in their current incarnation, but I truly believe that they have the right idea: bridging the mobile and desktop world in a meaningful way.
Of course the road to hell is paved with good intentions. There is no promise that Microsoft will ever achieve the goals that they are laying forward with the Surface and Windows 8 (especially as competition continues to heat up), but you have to start somewhere and hope for the best.
With that in mind, Bloomberg has now released new Surface sales figures. Yes, they aren’t wonderful, but really when you think about some of Microsoft’s obstacles (pricing, perception, drama over Windows 8’s changes, vendor conflict, etc), they really aren’t that BAD either.
1.5 million to date. Okay, I take that back. 1.5 million isn’t very good considering how long the Surface RT has been around now but Windows RT has been plagued with a few problems such as its internal identity conflict (what makes it better than Windows 8?).
Let’s remove the Surface RT from the equation. The new number is 400,000 units. The Pro has only been around since mid-February. That means 400k in about a month. That isn’t half bad, especially when you factor in that Microsoft had MAJOR supply issues. We covered several stories about Microsoft fighting to get enough stock out to retailers and its own storefront.
Coming away with nearly half a million units in sales for the Pro is an excellent start and it also indicates that Windows 8 Pro has more potential for acceptance over Windows RT. Doesn’t mean RT is dead, but it does make it obvious that Microsoft has more to gain with their x86 version of Windows than with the ARM one.
