Microsoft Sells Out of Surface Pro

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Reports were coming in from stores across the country on Saturday that the first day sales of the Surface Pro were extremely high and later in the day, reports were surfacing that the 128GB edition had sold out completely. Microsoft may have slightly underestimated the Surface’s consumer demand. :D

“Customer response to the launch of Surface Pro has been amazing. The Microsoft Online Store is currently out of stock of the Surface Pro. Our priority is to ensure that every customer gets their new Surface Pro as soon as possible. We are replenishing our supplies as quickly as possible."
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Or that they only released a few boxes for each store :)
If you give 5-10 boxes for each store, of course they'll be sold out
And you get free publicity in the media
A trick they learnt from apple
 
They only had 2 per store.

Grand total of 1000 = sold out.

If they had only 1 per store, they could have yelled "sold out" sooner.
 
It could be reasonably strong demand, but still much higher than they expected given RT's reception.

I suspect many aren't so much buying a "windows 8 tablet" as a windows centric alternative to a mac air which happens to be a tablet with its keyboard in the cover. If you think of it as a nice crapware free ultrabook the demand makes some sense.
 
^ Initial release is low, drives the demand up, free press coverage, and the initial price stays high with the next batch distributed to stores. Price should be lower, and with all the accessories, ends up near $300 extra.

People will be kicking themselves once the ultrabook/tablet arms race begins.
 
I think microsoft is allowed a couple free passes at using apple's strategies against them. I won't condemn them now, but I won't wait for it to become apple and microsoft against all other companies; then I won't hesitate.
 
BoogerBomb said:
Artificial shortage.
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Obviously.

metalsmart said:
I think microsoft is allowed a couple free passes at using apple's strategies against them. I won't condemn them now, but I won't wait for it to become apple and microsoft against all other companies; then I won't hesitate.
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Apple didn't invent this strategy actually, they copied it like everything else. It's what console makers do, for example.
 
pankkake said:
Apple didn't invent this strategy actually, they copied it like everything else. It's what console makers do, for example.
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Thanks for a history lesson in obviousness, but I wasn't remarking on the uniqueness of the strategy, but its usage by a prime competitor. I was remarking on its usage to balance perception, but condemn its use to distort it. As I said, I could give them a free temporary pass, but wouldn't hesitate to condemn them to use it as a wide-spread strategy of misinformation.
 
Lol and 6 months from now Microsoft will be selling the new and improved surface pro that has 2x the battery life with the new intel haswell cpu/gpu combo.
 
The SurfPro has advantages. If they were able to get the battery life up tremendously, it'd make for a decent laptop (assuming ASUS does a Transformer dealio). With the Android software in beta (the good emulation, not the SDK emulation), it makes the lack of apps in the store a null effect.

Assuming ASUS does a Transformer style one, you can get twice the battery life. Couple that with being able to run just about any of your programs and it's not such a bad deal. Maybe a tad pricey to begin with.

By cramming all the electronics into the screen side of things, it makes room for massive batteries in a dock platform.
 
yelsewshane said:
Lol and 6 months from now Microsoft will be selling the new and improved surface pro that has 2x the battery life with the new intel haswell cpu/gpu combo.
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Perhaps, but I've already waited 3 months for the Surface Pro to come out. I don't want to wait another 6 months. Besides, in 6 months something will probably have come out about Intel's processor AFTER that is so much better and how we should wait just 6-12 months more for that one.

Everybody was out of stock yesterday though - Microsoft online, Staples, Bestbuy, I called 2-3 Best Buys before I assumed their website was correct and it really was sold out at all 20 someodd stores it listed when I typed in my zip code (It was showing stores hours away). I called about 8 staples up to 1 hours drive away and the only ones any of them still had in stock were the 64GB model. Clearly the 64GB just doesn't make sense, and I'm not going to settle for that one when I feel like the 128GB model should come in stock in less than a few weeks.
 
Normally I would agree just buy that is good now and that you need; however, in this case intel haswell is a major leap forward in terms of cpu power usage that the industry has not seen. I say wait
 
I think both are great but I'm waiting for haswell for other reasons other then just the power usage.
 
kmarei said:
Or that they only released a few boxes for each store :)
If you give 5-10 boxes for each store, of course they'll be sold out
And you get free publicity in the media
A trick they learnt from apple
Click to expand...

The problem is people are now expecting something underhanded like an intentional shortage. They needed to play against expectation here because that "free publicity" is backfiring.

Make a good product and the damn thing will sell itself, everyone's plugged in, word of mouth is instant and widespread these days, they didnt need to blow a billion on ad agencies to show TV ads with kids surfing and playing basketball and unclicking their new plastic keyboards.

Every step MS seems to take is only further alienating longtime customers and windows fans, at least theyve got cash stockpiles but I'm not seeing them holding out forever without serious change within the organization thats coming up with this brain surgery and playbook.
 
I am actually quite surprised, apparently people want the best of the best.
 
If the "news" involves sales or a sales department, you can guarantee there's bullshit involved. Always has been, always will be.
 
kmarei said:
Or that they only released a few boxes for each store :)
If you give 5-10 boxes for each store, of course they'll be sold out
And you get free publicity in the media
A trick they learnt from apple
Click to expand...

This.

If they actually sold a ton of them, headlines would be "Microsoft sells a bazillion surface tablets!" Not that they sold out of them. "We sold out" is non specific enough that they can do that, and say that, withou lying, but still misrepresenting how many sold.

Remember, they need developers to hop on board, and saying "we sold em all!" Is trying to get devs to be excited for another big userbase. It also gets other consumers riled up and wanting one.
 
Absentee said:
This.

If they actually sold a ton of them, headlines would be "Microsoft sells a bazillion surface tablets!" Not that they sold out of them. "We sold out" is non specific enough that they can do that, and say that, withou lying, but still misrepresenting how many sold.

Remember, they need developers to hop on board, and saying "we sold em all!" Is trying to get devs to be excited for another big userbase. It also gets other consumers riled up and wanting one.
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Not this.
 
I'm pretty firmly in the "intentional shortage" camp. I've seen no reports of Best Buy locations receiving more than a handful (meaning 10) of units, and it's been the same story with Staples. My own local Best Buy received a grand total of four units. What's less clear is how many units Microsoft Stores received and how many were sold online. I don't expect Microsoft Stores received pallets of the things, but it seems pretty clear that they received quantities at least a few times greater than Best Buys.

If total volume was found to be less than 30k units, I would not be surprised.
 
According to the reports, there is a shortage of the 128GB version, not the 64GB version.
I could have told them that the demand for the 128GB version would be higher.
The 64GB version is a cripple. You will have to pay around $100 extra for external storage.
 
I am not sure if Microsoft is really retarded or some how a long-term thinking genius with a plan no one else can fathom. They release the limited version of surface (RT) just a few months before the version everyone really wanted (the Pro). They were somehow surprised no one wanted the RT when the Pro was much better and only a few months away. They make two versions of Pro, again with the lower end version (64GB) with very little usable space. Nobody is going to want one. They then only apparently make a small amount of the 128GB versions...which not surprisingly don't last....and then claim victory.

I just....dont get it.

Stupidity or epic genius? I am not seeing it.
 
Microsoft's emulating Apple, with the difference that people actually want(ed) Apple's products.

Why yes good sir, sell me a hilariously expensive gimped closed-system device that needs a jailbreak hack more than I need a hot bath and scotch.
 
At least apple publishes numbers.

When MS says sold out, how many is it? 100? 10000?
 
dr.kevin said:
At least apple publishes numbers.

When MS says sold out, how many is it? 100? 10000?
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Pfff.. Who needs numbers¿ Numbers are boring. We don't need that here. Did we mention the OVERWHELMING demand™

Let me show you the new LiveTiles™. You HAVE seen the new LiveTiles™ haven't you? Oh you're gonna love em!
 
Ruh roh.. pen support broken in key apps..

Those earliest of early adopters have discovered an unpleasant limitation, however: the vaunted pen input doesn't have complete support in important apps. Microsoft is using only an official driver without any current option to install an alternative, leaving artists without eraser or pressure support in creative industry staples such as Adobe Photoshop.
 
odditory said:
Ruh roh.. pen support broken in key apps..

Those earliest of early adopters have discovered an unpleasant limitation, however: the vaunted pen input doesn't have complete support in important apps. Microsoft is using only an official driver without any current option to install an alternative, leaving artists without eraser or pressure support in creative industry staples such as Adobe Photoshop.
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It's easy to just buy a Wacom tablet (the actual tablet, not the tablet computer thing) and a USB hub so you can connect it in conjuction with an external keyboard and mouse so the charging port isn't hogged by the keyboard. Then an extra bag to carry all the accessories in and a backpack portable table so you have a place for it so sit since it doesn't balance well in a lap. Presto! Problem solved!
 
odditory said:
Ruh roh.. pen support broken in key apps..

Those earliest of early adopters have discovered an unpleasant limitation, however: the vaunted pen input doesn't have complete support in important apps. Microsoft is using only an official driver without any current option to install an alternative, leaving artists without eraser or pressure support in creative industry staples such as Adobe Photoshop.
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Which serious "artists" would be using a weak little GPU crippled tablet with a junky tiny screen anyway? :D
 
nerdydesi said:
I'm waiting for a firesale on the RT or Pro, ala the HP Touchpad. ;)
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A $99 firesale of the RT I can see happening when MS pulls out but not the Pro. Even then, talk about a nightmare scenario that would put some of the MS employees that post here on the toilet for three days
 
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