Microsoft Surface revenue falls by 26 percent

[froggyboy604]

Microsoft's third quarter earnings are mostly rosy -- except when it comes to sales of its Surface laptops. The company reports that Surface revenues fell 26 percent compared to last year, reaching $831 million down from $1.1 billion. It's not hard to see why: Microsoft points to more pricing competition among premium 2-in-1 competitors, as well as "product end-of-life dynamics" for the decline. Simply put, Microsoft needs new Surface models to compete with the onslaught of new entries on the market, like Dell's XPS 13 2-in-1 and Lenovo's Yoga 910.

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Hopefully, the Surface tablets does not end up like Windows Phone where very few people buy them except for mostly MS fans.

Most users will more likely buy a cheaper Android, Amazon, Chrome OS, Windows or Linux tablet which cost $40 to $200 depending on the brand and specs. Some users can deal with the slower speeds because they paid less for a slower tablet.

A lot of people already own a fast desktops and laptops at home, so they don't need a very powerful Windows Tablet like the Microsoft Surface Pro, or they rather spend their money on a powerful gaming pc than a tablet which is not upgrade-able.

 

[Ash]

The problem I think is that these 2-in-1 devices still aren't extremely popular. Most people are still going for traditional laptops or desktops. Plus the price of the Microsoft Surface puts off a lot of people considering there are cheaper alternatives with similar specs

 

[froggyboy604]

The problem I think is that these 2-in-1 devices still aren't extremely popular. Most people are still going for traditional laptops or desktops. Plus the price of the Microsoft Surface puts off a lot of people considering there are cheaper alternatives with similar specs

I agree these 2 in 1 devices are still not very popular. In the past, there were older Windows tablet laptops with a slide-out keyboard or had a screen where you can flip the screen over to turn it into a tablet. These older Windows laptops tablets were not very popular for their high price, and not enough good touchscreen apps.

Small wireless Bluetooth keyboards and mouse cost around $10 and up, and can turn a cheaper Windows tablet like HP Stream 7, Android tablets, and iPads into a laptop for doing tasks like word processing, and browsing the web which are two of the most popular tasks people do when away from home. I think not many people edit video, and pictures in public because of privacy concerns that someone will see their private photos, and videos which they only want to share with their close friends and family members on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

It is also usually cheaper for most people to carry a $250 laptop, and use a separate Android tablet which you can buy for $20-50 on eBay if you buy from a cheaper brand like RCA, or a used/refurbished tablet. Carrying around a separate tablet is not hard since most laptop bags, and school bags have a few pockets for carrying chargers, books, and external hard drives.