Microsoft's Surface sales figures are in: OH DEAR

Further down in its 10-K filing, Redmond reports that it upped its sales and marketing budget for the Windows Division in 2013 by a jaw-dropping $1bn, which included an $898m increase in advertising costs "associated primarily with Windows 8 and Surface."
Got that? Microsoft spent more in a single year advertising the Windows 8 and Surface launches than it took in from Surface sales that same year.
And remember, none of this was even spread over an entire calendar year. Microsoft's fiscal 2013 ended on June 30. It launched Windows 8, Windows RT, and Surface RT on October 26, 2012. The Surface Pro launch came later, in February. But whichever way you slice it, Microsoft managed to mow through an $898m marketing budget in just eight calendar months – and consumers still didn't take the bait.

Get the whole sad story here....
 
...what Acer CEO JT Wang said last August, when Redmond first began touting its Surface plans."It is not something you are good at," Wang said, "so please think twice."
In addition to all the pre-release criticism for the OS, they where warned by some hardware industry experts as well? And still went ahead with eyes closed. Can't feel sorry for them.
 

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The doom and gloom isn't over yet either. It would interesting to see how this is affecting decisions made regarding Windows 9.
 

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Honestly, is anyone surprised?... if you gonna dictate terms to the customer...you have to take the hit.. and heck are they ever! Time for a major overhaul in Redmond! They may be playing their cards close to their chest, as would be expected when wounded, but, correct me if I missed something, I have yet to see any resurrection measures put in place.

Edit: Got me thinking whilst doing my first dev job and complaining of the poorly developed inherited apps I had to maintain, how the IT exec threw hardware at it instead of fixing the root of the problem (i.e. re-writing the code to be more efficient.. LOL)
 

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$898m increase in advertising? From the commercials I saw with bozo's dancing on desks and lids flapping open and closed they need to ask for a refund.

I can understand the advertising agency, they do things like that. What I can't stomach is the vision of Microsoft executives sitting in their conference room reviewing this stuff, getting all excited and going "Yeah, this is great!!! We're going with this one!!". It just goes to show the brain dead leadership (and I use that term loosely) of the company. Its pathetic.

You have one chance to make a first impression and they blew it profusely.

-jeff
 
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$898m increase in advertising? From the commercials I saw with bozo's dancing on desks and lids flapping open and closed they need to ask for a refund.


This is where they screwed up. It should have included scantily clad babes with large, uh, chests. They might have sold better had the advertising gone the raunchy route instead.
 

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It looks as if Apple has a better ad firm. I suggest MS fire theirs and hire SIW2. :p

I don't watch TV much at all, so therefore I don't see many commercials. What I do see seems to be > "It's cool > Ya gotta have it!!". Never mind what it does.....

Over the winter I predicted that 8 and Surface sales would be taking off right about now. Looks like I may be wrong. Back-to-school and holiday sales coming up may help. They may hold out a little longer knowing that they have 7 as an ace in the hole. For enterprise anyway.

Let's say they do eventually scrap it. What then? Write a 9 in their traditional sense? Who would they sell it to? It won't be the huge mobile market for sure. I don't think desktop PC or laptop sales will support it enough for profit, especially with the cost of supporting it for years.

BTW, I wonder how much MS shells out supporting OSs through the years vs Apple, Google, Linix, or any others? Ever think of those costs?

The articles are a bit old, but it gives a general idea on advertising costs. Mucho denaro.....

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ycharts...rosoft-another-lesson-in-quality-vs-quantity/

Who Spends More on Ads -- Apple or Microsoft? Another Lesson in Quality vs Quantity

Apple (AAPL) has run some new commercials –- featuring a blue-shirted genius —during the Olympics. The genius in the ad seems marginally less annoying than the real Apple geniuses giving you attitude behind the bar at retail stores,but critics have been harsh. A former creative director of ad firm TBWA/Chiat/Day blogged that the new ads are “causing a widespread gagging response” and he “honestly can’t remember a single Apple campaign that’s been received so poorly.” It’s not quite on the level of Groupon’s (GRPN) offensive Superbowl ads,but it’s a definite advertising miss.

http://m.cbsnews.com/storysynopsis.rbml?pageType=moneywatch&catid=57562380&feed_id=76&videofeed=43

(MoneyWatch) Few companies have ever seen the market success of Apple (AAPL), and perhaps none with the same scale and duration. But success, just like failure, comes with a cost.

For instance, Apple has seen some expenses, such as what the company pays for advertising and in overhead, growing at a fast clip. It takes money to make money, and CEO Tim Cook has authorized levels of spending previously unheard of in the company's history. However, even as he does so, the rate of expense growth is still eclipsed by the continued rapid expansion of revenue and profit.
 

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$898m increase in advertising? From the commercials I saw with bozo's dancing on desks and lids flapping open and closed they need to ask for a refund.

I can understand the advertising agency, they do things like that. What I can't stomach is the vision of Microsoft executives sitting in their conference room reviewing this stuff, getting all excited and going "Yeah, this is great!!! We're going with this one!!". It just goes to show the brain dead leadership (and I use that term loosely) of the company. Its pathetic.

You have one chance to make a first impression and they blew it profusely.

-jeff

LOL .. I think it's obvious they have more $'s than ¢'s
 

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It looks as if Apple has a better ad firm. I suggest MS fire theirs and hire SIW2. :p

I'll second that :ditto:

Apple had a head start but M$ coming in had the advantage of learning from the pioneers shortfalls...sadly they didn't..call it arrogance.. call it just poor market research.. either way what an epic fail.
 
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Touch Angle

$898m increase in advertising? From the commercials I saw with bozo's dancing on desks and lids flapping open and closed they need to ask for a refund.
This is where they screwed up. It should have included scantily clad babes with large, uh, chests. They might have sold better had the advertising gone the raunchy route instead.

They could have emphasised the touch angle. :D
 

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I think the market report just bares out the true reality of Windows 8. All of us can argue back and forth on the forums about whether or not Windows 8 sucks or is great. At the end of the day the market speaks, and customers pay the bills. If they don't want it, they don't want it. I read folks saying things like, "People have choices besides Windows 8." Yes they do, and they evidently have made their choice for now.

People talk about "going back". The reality is, simply strip out Modern UI from the desktop version of Windows 9 and leave everything else. Push Windows RT for all they are worth on the mobile side. Problem solved. BTW, if Windows RT can not carry any sales, I speak of the OS not the tablet, then Windows 8.x is doomed anyway as that is what you have left after you strip away the desktop.
 

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I think the market report just bares out the true reality of Windows 8. All of us can argue back and forth on the forums about whether or not Windows 8 sucks or is great. At the end of the day the market speaks, and customers pay the bills. If they don't want it, they don't want it. I read folks saying things like, "People have choices besides Windows 8." Yes they do, and they evidently have made their choice for now.

People talk about "going back". The reality is, simply strip out Modern UI from the desktop version of Windows 9 and leave everything else. Push Windows RT for all they are worth on the mobile side. Problem solved. BTW, if Windows RT can not carry any sales, I speak of the OS not the tablet, then Windows 8.x is doomed anyway as that is what you have left after you strip away the desktop.

That is really backwards. They are working towards convergence not trying to duplicate 2 separate os's. If I wanted a different os from my desktop to my tablet, there are a number of them out there already. Yes. Take your pick. Stay there. Be gone.

The reason I do not choose those is because I need to use x86 programs on the go. I have no wishes to maintain two file systems like I did in the past. If you want to do this. Go ahead and keep on keeping on.
 

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