Surface Mini to be released in June

Coke Robot · May 6, 2014

A baby ARM powered Surface with the Wacom stylus of the Pro?....

I may just actually buy one of these.

pparks1 · May 6, 2014

Overall, is the surface even selling well. I honestly haven't paid much attention.

Coke Robot · May 6, 2014

From Microsoft's last financial report, the Surface division is in fact doing quite decently.

Microsoft Surface Sales - Business Insider

Individual tablet sales apparently aren't that high, but overall revenue was about double.

rfruth · May 6, 2014

I can see myself with mini Surface

SIW2 · May 6, 2014

LOL. Isn't doing too badly?

The title of the linked article is

Microsoft Surface Sales Tanked.

I suppose it could have been worse.

4wd · May 7, 2014

Losses mount for Microsoft's Surface tablet line - Computerworld

btw, the real problem with the old surface was the 'click' not being loud enough, therefore not attracting enough women's attention. Let's hope the new Mini works better.
Microsoft Surface - Commercial HD Download - YouTube
New Microsoft Surface Pro Commercial - YouTube
lol+++ 'fail' ads, for a 'fail' product. Now, will be interesting to see what ms has learned, and looking forward to (maybe) some future good products.

edit: 'good products' refers to products\software\os that people actually want, not what ms think they want, or should want.

jimbo45 · May 7, 2014

Hi there

Now a PROPER writing device which would work almost as good as a sheet of paper with a pen would sway me too -- the writing surface must work just like a block of office paper and be CLEAR - whether this would be better as a tablet type screen or as a black and white e-ink type of surface I don't know -- I'd probably prefer an e-ink version with a slightly larger screen - remember if it's going to act as a note taker you don't have to carry this around in a pocket.

I've been looking for decent electronic writing gear ever since wacom started producing their hardware - but never found these any use and immediately shifted back to "Old fashioned" paper again.

Whether the screen is large enough also would be a moot point. Nice if it could be A4 size - but then that's hardly a Mini.

Cheers
jimbo

alphanumeric · May 7, 2014

Every thing I've read says they are loosing money on the Surface. A less expensive version may help sales. I wonder if a phablet is next?

jimbo45 · May 7, 2014

Hi there

Phablets are OUT - even the "Fanbois" admit these look stupid when making phone calls -- a phone maximum carryable screen size and still be considered a phone is probably the 5 inch S5.

Cheers
jimbo

Coke Robot · May 7, 2014

They don't really make any money off the ACTUAL physical tablets themselves, but it's all from their accessories like keyboards, chargers, wireless keyboard adapters and the such. It's much like with the Xbox, they don't make hardly dollars off the hardware, but they make it from Xbox Live and Xbox media passes.

Coke Robot · May 7, 2014

jimbo45 said:
Hi there

Phablets are OUT - even the "Fanbois" admit these look stupid when making phone calls -- a phone maximum carryable screen size and still be considered a phone is probably the 5 inch S5.

Cheers
jimbo

Talk to the android crowd, it seems like every bloody new generation of handset is another inch bigger.

God, the other day a coworker of mind had an LG Flex that apparently was in a leather case; I seriously thought that it was her wallet it was so damned massive. Why people think that's a good idea, I don't even know.

People seem to want bigger phones and smaller tablets. I'm surprised no one has made a tablet that is a cross between Windows Phone's capabilities and Windows' capabilities.

Coke Robot · May 7, 2014

jimbo45 said:
Hi there

Now a PROPER writing device which would work almost as good as a sheet of paper with a pen would sway me too -- the writing surface must work just like a block of office paper and be CLEAR - whether this would be better as a tablet type screen or as a black and white e-ink type of surface I don't know -- I'd probably prefer an e-ink version with a slightly larger screen - remember if it's going to act as a note taker you don't have to carry this around in a pocket.

I've been looking for decent electronic writing gear ever since wacom started producing their hardware - but never found these any use and immediately shifted back to "Old fashioned" paper again.

Whether the screen is large enough also would be a moot point. Nice if it could be A4 size - but then that's hardly a Mini.

Cheers
jimbo

Out of all the touchscreens and stylus combos I've seen and personally used, the Surface Pro is quite impressive with its Wacom stylus. Pressure sensitive with palm block, greatest combination ever!

alphanumeric · May 7, 2014

Coke Robot said:
They don't really make any money off the ACTUAL physical tablets themselves, but it's all from their accessories like keyboards, chargers, wireless keyboard adapters and the such. It's much like with the Xbox, they don't make hardly dollars off the hardware, but they make it from Xbox Live and Xbox media passes.

Come on, that's stretching it a bit don't you think? Do you really think they make enough off of keyboard sales to make up for the lose on the tablet? I buy that argument for the printer versus ink and razor versus razor blade scenario. How many keyboards are you going to buy? 1 or 2 maybe. I do believe the moneys made on games for the Xbox. The Surface isn't selling period.

Coke Robot · May 7, 2014

alphanumeric said:
Coke Robot said:

They don't really make any money off the ACTUAL physical tablets themselves, but it's all from their accessories like keyboards, chargers, wireless keyboard adapters and the such. It's much like with the Xbox, they don't make hardly dollars off the hardware, but they make it from Xbox Live and Xbox media passes.

Click to expand...

Come on, that's stretching it a bit don't you think? Do you really think they make enough off of keyboard sales to make up for the lose on the tablet? I buy that argument for the printer versus ink and razor versus razor blade scenario. How many keyboards are you going to buy? 1 or 2 maybe. I do believe the moneys made on games for the Xbox. The Surface isn't selling period.

A touch cover keyboard costs about 16 dollars to make. It retails for about 100 USD. Multiply that by 500,000 , that's about 43 million in revenue JUST from the touch cover. Their accessories cost a pretty penny so I wouldn't doubt that's where most of their revenue stream is coming from, low cost to build, high retail markup.

Then there's the type cover...

Money from the Xbox games is also where they get some money but it's not a whole lot. It's mainly subscriptions.

rfruth · May 7, 2014

Agree little profit in the tablet itself but the accessories are a potential gold mine (read printer cartridges) its the old give um the razor then sell um the blades business :geek:

BlueMasterFX · May 7, 2014

So people want bigger phones because other phones are too small. People want tablets, but they're too big to carry around. I remember Steve Jobs keynote and he presented the question on what's in the middle between a phone and a laptop. The answer was a tablet. Simple right? Now people are weird. The next question is, what's in the middle between a tablet and a phone? Well its obviously a Phablet. Capabilities of a phone, but feels like a tablet. Bigger yet smaller. Best of both worlds. Microsoft should already be thinking about this question, not make a Surface Mini. Good concept for Microsoft to think about, but maybe starting those copy machines is the best thing they can do.

Rxd · May 7, 2014

Lol, Microsoft is making up for tablet losses selling keyboards...

Even Paul Thurrott the biggest Microsoft fan in the world admits they are losing boatloads of money on the Surface.

i know some people here are MS fanboys but get real...

alihomsi20 · May 9, 2014

i Think its A Good idea Releasing A Mini Surface

jimbo45 · May 9, 2014

Hi there.

Why doesn't Ms "Outdo Redhat" !!! Redhat is a huge successful company servicing corporate Linux servers. Ms could get into this in a HUGE way -- by supplying an Enterprise variant of Linux like REDHAT or SUSE and then take contracts out to provide the Servers and the Virtualize clients desktops -- since Ms already has the Windows licensing in place this would provide income for YEARS and YEARS.

They could also provide a free open source version of their Linux distro too - also possibly with some Windows virtual appliances.

This way they get a HUGE planet wide testing facility while providing what is still a huge and continuing corporate market -- it's not unlikely that in a few years most largish businesses won't actually have much of an I.T dept at all -- facilities will be supplied by 3rd party providers.

Perfect revenue stream for Ms and cheap testing facilities.

(Any Ms CEO reading these Forums and need help on drumming up new Business -- PM me I'm available !!!!!!).

Cheers
jimbo

Surface Mini to be released in June

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