Microsoft halves Surface RT production orders - report
Ballmer was right after all, might only 'sell a few million'
Microsoft has slashed the number of Surface RT tablets on order with the Original Design Manufacturers in Asia, according to reports.
The supply chain was primed to build and ship four million units of the ARM-based device by year-end but Redmond has slashed this to two million on the back of weak demand, sources told Digi Times.
Those loquacious bean spillers also claimed that Redmond may bring forward the release date of the Intel-based Surface Pro from early next year to December.
Surface was designed as a reference point to showcase Windows 8 and CEO Steve Ballmer previously said it could ship just a "few million".
Unsurprisingly Microsoft's slab has attracted criticism from hardware partners that now double up as competitors too. And the product is sold direct through the firm's physical store and web shop which hasn't best pleased some channel partners.
A little more than a fortnight ago Ballmer appeared to drop another clanger when he reportedly told a French paper the Surface slab sales were off to a modest start.
But the Redmond PR machine soon rushed in to point out that what the bald eagle really meant was the ramp in the supply chain was modest. PC manufacturers were slow to come forth with Windows RT devices and others delayed their launches including Acer and Toshiba.
Sources told us earlier this month that margins on RT machines were thin - not a problem for Microsoft. It seems PC vendors forecasted modest sales and are holding out to release a raft of Intel-based machines at CES. ®
COMMENTS
Sigh
And to think they broke a nice, functional desktop interface for this.
Re: I will have to revise my numbers as well.
It's going the way of the Zune and the Kin.
How can the MS strategy possibly fail?
Officially declare your first product as 'low-functionality' version without any perspective of better functionality in the future -- and sell this at the upper price point of the competition. Then come out with the 'fully functional' version at a price well beyond anything ever considered by the consumers.
MS found the bait and switch strategy, but somehow they got it wrong.
Re: I will have to revise my numbers as well.
you'd be wiser to buy...
something else...
RT PrO though that will sell Meelions
It must. Who hasn't looked at a laptop and said: "This is really neat, but I wish it didn't have this keyboard. I would totally pay twice as much if they would take that off."
Why, the CES Windows Tablet storms of the past few years have yielded an amazing outpouring of innovative designs that have conquered the tablet market. A shame Microsoft isn't even going this year, to finally show off their own-brand hardware. That would be awesome.
