Initial thoughts from my hands-on with the Surface Pro

tpatt100

1.5 million a month after release is not that bad, it just didn't reach some estimates. Like the article says Microsoft is setting an example for PC manufacturers, sort of like what Google does with some of it's products especially the Chrome OS and the Pixel.

The market is saturated and PC sales have been decreasing as consumers who barely need a PC are using tablets and phones as their primary PC, I doubt Microsoft will ever see the days of past Windows launches. The Surface will just become "Windows" to home users a few years from now.

HailHogwash

I went to BBY to try it out and damn that thing weighs like a ton of bricks (compares well to macbook air).. not impressive at all for a tablet unless the next iteration is much lighter with much better battery life.

Iristheangel

It's a lighter than the Macbook Air...

Battery is similar on both.

For a full Pc and it being only half a pound or so heavier than the ipad, I don't know what you were expecting.

apr911

So I dont know what the fuss is about with regard to the Surface's sales numbers.

If the numbers in the article are accurate,
The Surface RT which had been out for 140 days as of the article and has sold 1.1 million units or approx 7850/day.
The Surface Pro which had been out for 34 days as of the article and has sold 400,000 units or approx 11750/day.

This puts the pro on track to sell over 1 million units in 85 days.
The original iPhone sold 1 million units in 74 days. So yes a little slower than Apple but then the iPhone 1 was a revolutionary step forward and created a market place where none existed and there was no competition.
I use the 1st gen iPhone for comparison because Apple had already built the market for the iPad via the iPhone when the 1st gen iPad was released. We've all seen the jokes when the iPad was 1st announced that it was just a supersized iPhone/iTouch and while the device had more to offer than that, there was a lot of truth in the sentiment.

The surface on the other hand is trying to create its own place in an existing market where competition abounds and lets be honest, the surface (especially the RT) isnt revolutionary by any stretch. Yes it does have some nice features that it adds but it wasnt the great advance the iPhone was. So the numbers posted to date arent that terrible and as far as the RT numbers go... well the RT is trying to challenge the dominant players in the field without bringing much to the table as far as advancement goes.

I also thought from day one when the Pro was announced (at the same time the RT was released) that the Pro was going to cut into RT sales. Microsoft really shot itself in the foot with that move. Only some of the "early minority" went out and got the RT version before christmas but I think the "early majority" (many IT Pros fall in this category) took a more wait and see approach and decided to wait for the pro to see what benefits the pro offered over the RT as well as to see if it drove down the price. Again, we see the same behavior with every next gen iPhone. When the iPhone 5 (or any version) was announced (or even speculated to have an announcement coming) sales of the 4S and 4 dropped off almost entirely and remained there until the 5 was released. At which point Apple killed production of the 4 and reduced the price of the 4S which allowed sales of the 4S to recover some.

So again for a 1st gen device it is posting some rather respectable numbers.



I think as Microsoft grows its app store (a common complaint with the RT when it 1st came out, just like it was for the Android and iOS devices before it) and refines its product line, we'll see demand change and those numbers improve a bit. In the meantime, the Surface is a viable challenger to Apple & Google devices although it will take a bit for the device to gain traction with those users. Especially when you consider most of those users have a corresponding phone device.

Unfortunately, I think Windows 8 is a major hinderance to the sales of the Surface. Its not being received well in the traditional Desktop/Laptop home & business realm, its corresponding server OS Win2k12 is not being received well in the Server realm, it doesnt have many phone devices capable of running it and those that do are not as sleek or feature rich as android devices or the iPhone so its taking a beating in the handheld device realm as well. Windows 8 is posting worse adoption rates than Windows Vista which I initially found surprising (I knew it was bad but really didnt think it could be worse than Vista) but frankly, after some time playing with Win8/2k12, I can see why.

Ultimately, I think Microsoft has a great 1st gen device and I cant wait to see what the future holds in store for its next generation. After purchasing a Surface RT back around Christmas time and having it for almost a month (thanks to the time period and Microsoft's apparent desire for people to be happy with the device which I have to say the attitude really surprised me as I expected them to be stickler's to the return policy and not have any give given past experience with Microsoft and the big tech companies in general [i.e. apple]) I really want a Pro.

I did like the RT version and I found the user interface to be rather intuitive once you got the hang of it (distinctly different from iOS, Android & traditional Windows so there is a learning curve), but as a IT Power-user, the inability to run native windows apps was a serious drawback for me and at the time, the App-store didnt have an SSH client or a VPN client (2 things I cant live without on a production box, though I dont know if clients have since been released).

The only things 2 things I didnt like about the device (besides the application support) were:

1. Unlike comparable iOS & Android devices where apps feel like they load almost instantly, Apps on the RT did not feel as responsive when starting up and seemed to linger on the splash screen. Ultimately once in the App thing generally functioned well but there's something to be said for the feeling of "instant access" iOS and Android systems provide. That said, I think Id rather deal with slower initial load times if that means improved performance due to better memory management. It'd be a real easy fix for microsoft though.... Have the applications "do" something when loading other than displaying the splash screen. Launching some games on both my iPhone and RT found I was playing the game in about the same amount of time but on the iOS device, multiple splash screen & animation displays showed up while on the RT it was just the 1 with the spinning circle. The feeling of "doing something" made the wait seem less like waiting.

2. I REALLY REALLY REALLY did not like having to use a microsoft account for everything. Want to tie your device into facebook? Ok but first you need to link your MS account to facebook. Sorry but no. I keep logins separate for a reason and dont want one account to have access to all others. Especially since you are "always" logged in with the Surface. With Android & iOS systems, you use each applications native authentication methods and dont have to link the account to any other. Its not only more secure but its nice when you want to hand over your device to a friend to check facebook or whatever and you can just log out of facebook and let them login... No linking accounts, etc.


Price is the reason I dont own a Pro but then its also the reason I dont own an iPad, RT or Android tablet. The price is too high for the feature set on the iPad, RT or Android in my opinion and the price is too close to ultralights in the case of the Pro. If the Pro came with the keyboard for 899 or 925 (for the type) Id already own one.

HailHogwash

Those numbers are pretty dismal for someone who is trying to gain market share unless thats not the end game.

apr911

It took the 1st Android device (The HTC Dream) 183 days to ship 1 million units.

Apple & Google built themselves a following for their portable OS before ever shipping a tablet... Microsoft it trying to shake of the "desktop" OS image and skip straight to the tablet.

So yeah, the numbers aren't great from a market share perspective but then no 1st gen device ever really does get that much penetration unless it's the 1st device of its kind (iPhone 1)... Comparing the sales rates of a 1st gen device to the sales rates of 3rd and 4th gen devices is just pointless.

For a 1st gen device though the surface seems to be doing about average.

Claymoore

That's 1.5 million happy customers. Ever met anyone who owned a Surface who didn't love it?

@ apr911's. Both of your issues are related. Major companies like Facebook and Twitter do not have native Win8 apps, so the apps you download are 3rd party apps that load your updates and feeds. They need to tie to your MS account so that you can grant that account access to your app. I have also not installed them, because I want my accounts separate. More native apps will eventually happen.

Besides the app store, my biggest complaint is the power adapter. I was standardized on micro USB but now I have to carry an extra adapter. I will probably buy another adapter to keep in my laptop bag so that I don't leave on a business trip without a charger.

olaHalo

Are you guys connecting Cisco devices to the Surface?
If so, how? Just ordinary console cable and USB adapter?

That would make me buy it for sure. No more lugging around a laptop...

SteveLord

I know I know. You know what? The Blackberry Playbook had a rough start too. Sales numbers meant nothing. We can always count on miracle patches and firmware updates. Look at how awesome the Playbook is now over there holding up the broken leg on my couch. :P


Anyway, MS needs to step up their game. You're delusional if you seriously think this isn't a bad start considering the time and money they've spent on this. Or it will go the way of the Zune and eventually their Windows phones.

apr911

HA! The blackberry playbook.

I certainly cant defend its record but I also dont think it goes against the points I made as it took well over 9 months before a 1 million units shipped and it shipped less than 2 million units as of December 1, 2012 (20 months after its initial release which is a rate of 10k/month).

The Surface Pro is currently selling over 10k/DAY and total shipments on the Surface Pro & RT lines are already at 1.5 million units after only 5 months, without any consideration to the impact the Surface Pro announcement had on early (or continuing) sales of the RT.

So I still fail to see how the Surface's sales numbers are bad. Again, Im not saying they're great. Im also not saying the Surface is a guaranteed success or that it wont be noted as a big flop at some point in the future, both are still very real possibilities. All Im saying is the devices sales are on par with other highly popular 1st gen devices so the doom and gloom seems unnecessary.

tpatt100

Well Microsoft already announced they are ending support for Windows 8 phones July 2014

Microsoft Says Windows Phone 8 Support Ends July 2014, Still No Official Successor Announced | TechCrunch

So at least they are being honest when they plan on not supporting devices.

Iristheangel

olaHalo wrote: »

Are you guys connecting Cisco devices to the Surface?
If so, how? Just ordinary console cable and USB adapter?

That would make me buy it for sure. No more lugging around a laptop...

Just a regular ol' console cable and USB adapter. I've been on a construction site of a 43 floor building with it all week running up and down stairs to plug in fiber and configure multilayer switches. It's been pretty easy to hold it in one hand and run down a few flights of stairs.
My company provided laptop is one of those HP beasts that weighs about 7 pounds plus 4-5 pound powerbrick. I completely ditched it for my Pro.
I tried out of the RT months before this one came out and I liked it a lot but it would have never amounted to anymore more than something I could write papers/powerpoints, surf the web, and read books on. I would have kept it but I knew the Pro was coming out so I waited. The Pro is way more useful. I got Visio 2013 through my company and I highly recommend any touch tablet with stylus (doesn't have to be the Pro) to use with Visio 2013.

Mrock4

Don't pretend you're actually getting work done iris..

Iristheangel

You mean cat videos aren't work?

SteveLord

4 months later...and...SurfaceRT especially is touted as a flop everywhere you look. $900 million down the drain. From a overpriced and over complicated device compared to the competition.

It's official: Microsoft's Surface RT launch was an absolute and total disaster

Roguetadhg

RT is but Pro seems to be standing up pretty well?

MSP-IT

Although I'm not in management, I feel as though I keep coming back to the exact same question with many tech and gaming companies: where is the disconnect between what the consumers want (and need) and what companies actually provide?

Microsoft is a supreme example of this in it's offering of the Surface. You can't just come out of no where and create a whole new market segment like it tried to do with the RT. It really should've focused more on the Pro and bringing it's pricing down to a more competitive level. Offering a completely flavour of operating system was a poor choice, as I honestly believe many consumers didn't know what they were getting into when purchasing the RT version of the Surface. It boggles my mind that companies, like Microsoft and EA, live in such a world of ignorance when it comes to understanding their consumer base.

/rant

chrisone

Roguetadhg wrote: »

RT is but Pro seems to be standing up pretty well?

The pro model is so clunky/Huge and really really heavy! wow! I did not like it what so ever! Top that off with a crappy battery life......and its really expensive. Not a fan right now, hopefully v2 they work it all out because the touch keyboard cover is nice, until apple and google start popping out touch keyboard covers.