Microsoft Surface RT Tanks
As I’ve been shouting to the world since the middle of last June, the Surface just isn’t a very good tablet. Now Digitimes claims that fewer than two million RT tablets shipped last quarter, and less than half of those were actually sold. Original expectations were for sales of more than four million of the confused halflings. The report continues:
The far below originally expected sales performance for Windows RT tablets is mainly because a large number of applications are not compatible with Windows RT and sales prices are relatively high, the sources said. Since Microsoft will ship the Windows 8-based Surface Pro soon, prices for Surface RT are likely to be lowered to clear inventories, the sources noted.
The Surface Pro works even worse as a tablet than the RT, and is priced to match high-end Ultrabook laptops.
Steve Ballmer has got to go before he destroys Microsoft.
Zune. Vista. Windows 8. Windows RT. Surface.
What a track record!
Don’t forget them backing HD-DVD instead of Blu Ray. And managing to dominate Playstation, but fail to make a substantial profit in the process which is going to lead us to subscription-based contracts for the next generation due to building grossly expensive consoles that they can no longer sell for a massive loss.
Remember when Blu Ray won over HD-DVD, with the exclusive signing-on of Disney?
Also remember how the prices of moves on BR practically jumped +$10 each after that?
Microsoft wasn’t the only loser with HD-DVD. Most consumers were, too.
I never noticed a price difference, but I’ve always ordered from Amazon. They seemed expensive back when the format was new. Now they’re about where DVDs used to be.
The biggest problem I see is that they were coming along with a “me-too” product, without giving people something they just couldn’t live without.
Personally, I think they should have emphasized pen computing more. The Windows 7 handwriting interface really works well, and is great for actually getting work done. With the right hardware, it also discriminates between pen and touch so the OS can respond appropriately. (For example, when you touch the keyboard icon, you get an on-screen keyboard. When you tap it with the pen, you get a handwriting input field.) That’s something really useful you can’t do with a stylus.
Ah well. Lost opportunities.