Microsoft to quit making surface products?!

[spinedoc77]

I don't think its their loyal fans that are spreading it. Its the media looking for click-bait, and of course we are on an Apple fan site. Anyone who is watching Microsoft would realize it didn't make any sense.

But at the same time, you never know what any company is going to do. I've seen executives make statements and then two days later they were gone. Twice in my career I took customers to a showcase reference customer site, and the literal next day the division they represented was sold off. Twice.

I thought about this more, and think about what the OEMs were doing before Surface. They were all having a race to the bottom. Mass producing low cost hardware. Microsoft has been able to help create more premium segments with Surface. More premium segments raises the total price and gives them more headroom for software; and better aligns with products to compete with Apple.

No, but if you look at the comments on many of these sites that reposted the news they are full of users relating their disappointment in how MS has treated them in terms of product loyalty. My feeling is that many users who post on the internet are somewhat technically inclined, but that's just an opinion. These are the guys advising others on tech purchases and support many times. I don't necessarily think it's going to cause Microsoft to go belly up or anything, but I still think it's bad PR overall. Windows mobile 8 was like a rug being pulled out from your feet with the lack of hardware support, which only worsened with subsequent releases.

Windows phones may never have had incredible double digit numbers, but they weren't always in the pits either. I found this article amusing: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsa...s-market-share-by-2016-idc-says/#528a0d441926 A 2012 article where IDC, fairly well respected analysts, predicted by 2016 windows phones would surpass iOS to become the 2nd largest mobile OS.

Heck MS could have still saved their mobile market. They had Nokia, freakin Nokia, but couldn't make that work. They had the impetus from the surface line up and should have released surface phone a long time ago. Even HP, the last survivor, isn't making a sequel to it's awesome Elite phone because Microsoft has no interest. Microsoft has continuum, they have bridges to android/iOS app development, they have x86 support, they have Panos Panay and team, but they just can't put it all together. It's not like the stakes are small either, IMO we will all be on smartphones ONLY in the near future.

PC's will become a thing of the past unless they are needed for specialized purposes, at least for the unwashed masses. Microsoft is betting it all on their cloud subs and mobile apps, but they better hope they don't get supplanted by the native options Android and iOS have. I can see that foothold going away very quickly, and with a declining PC market suddenly Microsoft is left with many less consumers and eyeballs. Other companies are getting very aggressive, for example Google offering full resolution unlimited photo storage for the next 2 1/2 years, goodbye Onedrive?
Maybe longterm this will creep into their corporate/enterprise market as well, especially with continually improving enterprise solutions. I moved from Microsoft sharepoint to Googles enterprise Drive solution for example, I found it a superior product.

Anyway, before I get too much more off topic. The tie in to the surface lineup is that Microsoft has done this before, and I'm sure they will do it again. I don't think it will be with the surface lineup as we've been discussing the reasoning behind that, but who would have thought even just 5-6 years ago that MS could have so badly screwed up their mobile market? MS entire strategy with mobile just made zero sense, and there were plenty of points where Microsoft could have stepped back and reassessed, but they didn't.

 

[convergent]

No, but if you look at the comments on many of these sites that reposted the news they are full of users relating their disappointment in how MS has treated them in terms of product loyalty. My feeling is that many users who post on the internet are somewhat technically inclined, but that's just an opinion. These are the guys advising others on tech purchases and support many times. I don't necessarily think it's going to cause Microsoft to go belly up or anything, but I still think it's bad PR overall. Windows mobile 8 was like a rug being pulled out from your feet with the lack of hardware support, which only worsened with subsequent releases.

Windows phones may never have had incredible double digit numbers, but they weren't always in the pits either. I found this article amusing: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsa...s-market-share-by-2016-idc-says/#528a0d441926 A 2012 article where IDC, fairly well respected analysts, predicted by 2016 windows phones would surpass iOS to become the 2nd largest mobile OS.

Heck MS could have still saved their mobile market. They had Nokia, freakin Nokia, but couldn't make that work. They had the impetus from the surface line up and should have released surface phone a long time ago. Even HP, the last survivor, isn't making a sequel to it's awesome Elite phone because Microsoft has no interest. Microsoft has continuum, they have bridges to android/iOS app development, they have x86 support, they have Panos Panay and team, but they just can't put it all together. It's not like the stakes are small either, IMO we will all be on smartphones ONLY in the near future.

PC's will become a thing of the past unless they are needed for specialized purposes, at least for the unwashed masses. Microsoft is betting it all on their cloud subs and mobile apps, but they better hope they don't get supplanted by the native options Android and iOS have. I can see that foothold going away very quickly, and with a declining PC market suddenly Microsoft is left with many less consumers and eyeballs. Other companies are getting very aggressive, for example Google offering full resolution unlimited photo storage for the next 2 1/2 years, goodbye Onedrive?
Maybe longterm this will creep into their corporate/enterprise market as well, especially with continually improving enterprise solutions. I moved from Microsoft sharepoint to Googles enterprise Drive solution for example, I found it a superior product.

Anyway, before I get too much more off topic. The tie in to the surface lineup is that Microsoft has done this before, and I'm sure they will do it again. I don't think it will be with the surface lineup as we've been discussing the reasoning behind that, but who would have thought even just 5-6 years ago that MS could have so badly screwed up their mobile market? MS entire strategy with mobile just made zero sense, and there were plenty of points where Microsoft could have stepped back and reassessed, but they didn't.

I think Microsoft's failure in mobile was because they didn't see the market shift, and the App Store really killed them. They were one of the top players in mobile devices that functioned like an iPhone, before the iPhone. Pocket PC and Windows Mobile I think had more share of the smartphone market than Apple has today...granted a much smaller market. Because it was a small market, the treated it more like a hobby than a core business. Clearly Ballmer didn't expect the iPhone to do what it did, but they didn't understand the power of the App Store. When they figured that out, it was too late, even for them to buy their way into it. It was a market disruption that left them, Palm, Nokia (Symbian), and RIM (Blackberry) all with their heads spinning. Its hard for established business to pivot that quickly when something that big comes out of nowhere. If Android hadn't pretty much landed at the same time, they may have had a chance. But the duopoly just accelerated way to fast.

 

[IowaLynn]

Sounds like MS is not just bringing it's Edge browser to iOS but also promising it's mobile apps getting a face lift as well including Android.

2-in-one laptop/tablets may be losing sales while phones are getting more powerful. And I have to say Samsung DeX 2.0 could someday with rough edges ironed out coupled with a Note 8 or 9 runs smoothly.

 

[convergent]

Sounds like MS is not just bringing it's Edge browser to iOS but also promising it's mobile apps getting a face lift as well including Android.

2-in-one laptop/tablets may be losing sales while phones are getting more powerful. And I have to say Samsung DeX 2.0 could someday with rough edges ironed out coupled with a Note 8 or 9 runs smoothly.

Detachable screen tablets is the only part of the PC market that is growing. Without Surface, that market wouldn't exist.

 

[Yankee512]

Microsoft dispels rumors that it will abandon Surface lineup by 2019

https://www.techspot.com/news/71336-microsoft-dispels-rumors-abandon-surface-line-products-2019.html

Panos Panay, corporate vice president of Microsoft's devices group, denies that the company has plans to pull the plug on the Surface line.

During a panel discussion on Monday attended by Business Insider, Panay said that talks of Microsoft shutting down the Surface by 2019 are nothing more than “tabloid rumors,” and are “so far from the truth it’s laughable.”

His comments were in response to reports that industry analysts do not see a future for the Surface past 2019.

Canalys CEO Steve Brazier hosted a panel at the Canalys Channels Forum last week. During the discussion, Brazier predicted that Microsoft would pull production of Surface products by 2019 or sooner. He cited “choppy performance” from a sales standpoint as the primary indicator.

“Overall they are not making money,” Brazier said. “It doesn’t make sense for them to be in this business.”

He insists that the margins are just not there for Microsoft and when they realize that, the Surface will be the first to the chopping block.

Brazier was not alone in his views. Lenovo COO Gianfranco Lanci and Dell CCO Marius Haas agreed that the Surface was a money-losing venture for Microsoft. Barring a sudden sharp boost in market share, Lanci said that he would not be surprised to see an exit before 2019.

"Frankly speaking, it is difficult to see why they should keep losing money."

Not everyone agrees with this assessment. Our own Rob Thubron pointed out that Microsoft is not likely to want to suffer the hit to its hardware reputation, especially after its smartphone failure. With the latest Surface offerings released just last June, a 2019 exit seems too soon.

Furthermore, the Surface is more important to Microsoft than just sales. It is a platform Redmond uses for improving other products as well. The Surface Pen is a good example. Improvements in the software for the stylus have bled into Windows 10 so that now the Pen works better even on PCs from other manufacturers.

A weak quarter here and there is not going to deter Microsoft from producing the Surface. Panay points to the $900 million loss suffered in 2013 with the Surface RT. That was a “short-term setback” that only served to make Microsoft try harder. The company is set in its resolve to keep the Surface on the market and continue to improve it.

Panay reflected, “[Microsoft] is in hardware for the long haul, and Surface isn't going anywhere.”