Microsoft loses money on each Surface sold

Computerworld - Microsoft lost $39 million last quarter selling its Surface tablets, the company acknowledged in filings today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).


While Microsoft reported increased Surface revenue for the October-December 2013 quarter of $893 million -- more than double the $400 million in the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2013 -- it pegged the cost of that revenue at $932 million.
Microsoft loses money on each Surface sold - Computerworld
 
Thanks for taking a hit and making a fantastic tablet Microsoft.

Can't wait to purchase the next version.
 

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    Microsoft Surface Pro 3, Dell Venue 8 Pro, i5 2500K overclocked PC
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    i5
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    4gb Surface Pro, 8gb PC
It's the same as the Xbox 360, it took a real long while before they started making money off of it.

You have to spend money to make money as the saying goes...
 

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I still say they're priced far too high for the average person to be able to justify the expense.

They either need to give SurfaceRT's away for free (why not the huge pile of unsold ones) to get them into people's hands and get them hooked on 8.1/SkyDrive integration and up-sell them to the Surface Pros for x86 backwards compatibility... or they need to introduce a mid-tier Surface device which is x86 bc, but doesn't cost damn near £1000. Maybe one without pen support if it's that which drives the cost up so high?
 

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  • OS
    windows 8
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I bought this cutie - this is a great machine for the $329 I paid. I don't know whether the Surface is any better, but it is a lot more expensive.
 

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I bought this cutie - this is a great machine for the $329 I paid. I don't know whether the Surface is any better, but it is a lot more expensive.

Seriously? After all the horrible things you've been saying about the OS you go and buy one?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    Tablet
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Microsoft Surface Pro 3, Dell Venue 8 Pro, i5 2500K overclocked PC
    CPU
    i5
    Memory
    4gb Surface Pro, 8gb PC
The Surface Pro's are not at all over priced compared to the rest on the market.
iPad's are over priced. WAAAAyyyyy over priced. Talk about a rip off.

Surface Pro is full featured, with i5 or i7 Processors and SSD drives and 4G of Ram
The Surface Pro comes with a Digitizer Pen. Not many, or practically none others do. And it works great.
Pressure Sensitivity is really nice if you are into painting and drawing, among other things.
With being able to install any software you want? Yeah, worth it.
You get a lot for what you pay for. These are not cheap Tablets by any means, for a reason.


Hmm,, The first Gen Surface Pro's got a bit cheaper... so,, there you go,, they were still worth the $1000 I paid for mine.
Surface Pro Tablet Powered by Windows 8 - Microsoft Store - Microsoft Store

Worth every penny.

You have to keep in mind that these are First Gen and now 2nd Gen devices. They have to make some money back for the R&D work they put into them. As with anything, they will get cheaper over time, but you can't expect (well you can, but you would be wrong) them to be cheap as you want.
 

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I bought this cutie - this is a great machine for the $329 I paid. I don't know whether the Surface is any better, but it is a lot more expensive.

Seriously? After all the horrible things you've been saying about the OS you go and buy one?
I have never said anything horrible about the tablet version. I have issues with the desktop version - if there is such a version. And the cutie is for the wife anyhow. She uses only 3 applications and for that it is ideal.
 

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    Vista and Win7
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    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
The first Gen Surface Pro's got a bit cheaper

$600 is not really cheap for old iron - and that without office. My transformer was $330 with office included. It has a quad processor and a SSD - no pen though which is probably handy for some apps. Speed is no issue - it is comparable to my i5 laptop which also runs from a SSD.

Check your boot time from Event 100 in Event Viewer. Then we can compare notes.
 

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System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
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    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
To get back on topic my eminent colleagues

To get back on topic my eminent colleagues,

The main reason for it's money loss is, that they had no stable distribution process. What the article also failed to mention was the amount of faulty items returned, I would be curious about those numbers.

While this is an interesting little snapshot topic, the real question is, what will the returns be several years from now, after all the setup monies and massive marketing push, are no longer part of the equation. I await those numbers.

This article reminds me of trash tabloid headline fodder, "Brad Pitt discovers Angelina Jolie is an alien, . an amusing read, but not much on substance.
 

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this article is about the "RT" right? this is supposed to die anyway. What i like to know just the Pro numbers.

I was hoping this website would clearly mark the headline that this is about the RT. It is bad enough that MS confused the general public, but here I would have expected some clarification.

The "Pro 2" must do quite well since they are on backorder ( at least the version i ordered through my work, 2 months waiting so far for 8GB/256GB SSD). I mean if a product is sold out for 2 months are due to lack of production capacity, not lack of buyers.
 

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$39 million loss is not bad actually.
 

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    Dell E6410
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    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia NVS3100
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    120 GB SSD
I don't know about everyone else but I have yet to see anybody with Surface tablet. For a product that is supposedly getting sold out and stuff, it's not doing anything to the iPad nor Android marketshare.

I'm still waiting for a tablet that has the highest writing precision when it comes to taking notes. That way I can get rid of my subject notebooks but no OEM seems to be investing on that.

As for Microsoft losing money of each Surface sold, that's good because that makes them think twice in making products.
 

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I'm still waiting for a tablet that has the highest writing precision when it comes to taking notes
What do you mean with 'the highest writing precision ' ? Layout or size of the keyboard ??
 

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System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
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    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
As for Microsoft losing money of each Surface sold, that's good because that makes them think twice in making products.

No way, Surfaces are great, but in order for joe public to buy them they NEED to be cheaper. Someone who's on the outside is more likely to just, say, pick up a samsung android tablet to 'go with' their samsung galaxy smartphone. Once they're on Surface with Win8.1, with all their files and SkyDrive integration, with regular MS Office they can fully appreciate them. But whilst they're too pricey, people won't even look at them.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
As for Microsoft losing money of each Surface sold, that's good because that makes them think twice in making products.

No way, Surfaces are great, but in order for joe public to buy them they NEED to be cheaper. Someone who's on the outside is more likely to just, say, pick up a samsung android tablet to 'go with' their samsung galaxy smartphone. Once they're on Surface with Win8.1, with all their files and SkyDrive integration, with regular MS Office they can fully appreciate them. But whilst they're too pricey, people won't even look at them.

You are absolutely right - price rules.

I was looking for a Surface type device for the wife for travel, and I bought this one for $329. (now it is $339) - still a lot cheaper than Surface and a great machine. I was not going to pay M$ prices.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
The first Gen Surface Pro's got a bit cheaper

$600 is not really cheap for old iron - and that without office. My transformer was $330 with office included. It has a quad processor and a SSD - no pen though which is probably handy for some apps. Speed is no issue - it is comparable to my i5 laptop which also runs from a SSD.

Not quite cheap enough, those Gen1 Surface Pros without the keyboard included. Remember that they have bad battery life etc, so when people are looking between Gen2 and Gen1, they are going to be pushed towards Gen2 for it's improvements if they can afford the extra cost at all. Here in the UK the Gen1 tablet alone is milling around £500-£700, and the Gen2 is £700-£1,000.

I'd reluctantly bite on a Gen1 if it was around £400 for the tablet + keyboard, reluctantly because I know I'd be buying flawed hardware in comparison to Gen2, but there's just no way I can afford a Gen2.


whs, some questions if you don't mind my asking:
WinRT or Full Windows?

Does it include a regular USB port? If so is it USB2 or USB3?

Does it include a HDMI or Mini Display Port for showing the tablet on a HDTV?

How is gaming performance? Can you play regular 'AAA' type games on the default 'normal' settings?

How is it for online video/streaming (YouTube, Netflix, Twitch) in terms of watching flawlessly and not stuttering/buffering/crashing?


 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
I'm still waiting for a tablet that has the highest writing precision when it comes to taking notes
What do you mean with 'the highest writing precision ' ? Layout or size of the keyboard ??
As in writing with some sort of stylus pen or whatever on the display. So far writing on a tablet is still messy. But I want the words to look exactly as if they were written on a piece of paper. That would make my life so much easier especially when doing manual mathematical calculations.

Maybe this technology isn't there yet but that would be the best thing for me on a tablet. I mean how are you suppose to type math formulas with a touch keyboard?
 

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    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i5 430M
    Memory
    4GB
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    Intel® HD Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
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    1366x768
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