Yesterday Microsoft posted impressive earnings of $21.46 billion for Q4 2012, with $6.83 billion in profit. At the time the company wouldn’t talk about Surface sales figures but Microsoft’s CFO Peter Klein did drop a bit of a juicy line by stating that they would “expand the product line-up” in regards to the Surface.
The statement would be further expanded to mention geographical and retail expansion, revenue expansion, and possibly even new hardware lines in the future. Of course, Klein might have just been referring to the Surface Pro that is just around the corner.
Still, it wasn’t that long ago that we heard rumors about the Surface line up being expanded to include a larger tablet, and even some kind of massive 14-inch Surface ultrabook. This far from confirms that these rumors were true, but it certainly does ignite further hope and speculation.
Regardless of what Microsoft has in store for the Surface line going forward, odds are it will be a while before we see anything else new beyond the Surface Pro. Personally, I think that part of the Surface’s future depends on whether Microsoft can turn around Windows RT and make it more “desirable”.
If they can, I wouldn’t be too shocked to see a more powerful (maybe Tegra 4 or high-end Qulacomm) Surface RT 2nd generation tablet in time for the 2013 Holiday Season. If Windows RT can’t make the turn around? I’d expect Microsoft to reboot the lower-end Surface with a low-power Intel Atom or AMD Hondo tablet instead.
What do you think, is the future of the Surface line bright? Do you plan on eventually get a Microsoft made computing device or do you prefer to buy hardware made by one of Microsoft’s hardware partners instead?
All Comments
I was ready to buy a Win RT device and was just trying to decide between the Asus Vivotab and the MS Surface.
But, with all the pundits casting doubts on the longevity of the platform during CES, I didn’t want to be one of those people purchasing the next HP Touchpad.
Instead I have recently updated my Win7 laptop to a Win8. I have really been enjoying the performance improvements AND the Startscreen doesn’t bother me one bit. I just wish I could use the touch aspect of Win 8. That being said, I still think a RT device would be a great fit for me as I’m ready to move to a tablet to take back and forth to work (I use mass transit), remote to my work and home machines for meetings, longer battery life, etc… Just waiting to see which way the wind blows with Win RT.
However, the $50 upgrade was well spent for the upgrade to Win8 and I downloaded the temporary free Windows Media Center plugin to get the codex files for my built in DVD. I have a few more days to determine if I want to upgrade my two other computers or leave them with Win7 installed.
While I personally have some doubts when it comes to Windows RT– I wouldn’t worry about buying it. Even if Microsoft eventually phases out Windows RT hardware for the most part, they will still likely continue to push dual-support for ARM/x86 in the Windows Store for several years to come.
Again– while RT isn’t in a great position right now, I truly think that could change if Microsoft can find better ways to market it. 🙂
Just my two cents.
I was ready to buy a Win RT device and was just trying to decide between the Asus Vivotab and the MS Surface.
But, with all the pundits casting doubts on the longevity of the platform during CES, I didn’t want to be one of those people purchasing the next HP Touchpad.
Instead I have recently updated my Win7 laptop to a Win8. I have really been enjoying the performance improvements AND the Startscreen doesn’t bother me one bit. I just wish I could use the touch aspect of Win 8. That being said, I still think a RT device would be a great fit for me as I’m ready to move to a tablet to take back and forth to work (I use mass transit), remote to my work and home machines for meetings, longer battery life, etc… Just waiting to see which way the wind blows with Win RT.
However, the $50 upgrade was well spent for the upgrade to Win8 and I downloaded the temporary free Windows Media Center plugin to get the codex files for my built in DVD. I have a few more days to determine if I want to upgrade my two other computers or leave them with Win7 installed.
While I personally have some doubts when it comes to Windows RT– I wouldn’t worry about buying it. Even if Microsoft eventually phases out Windows RT hardware for the most part, they will still likely continue to push dual-support for ARM/x86 in the Windows Store for several years to come.
Again– while RT isn’t in a great position right now, I truly think that could change if Microsoft can find better ways to market it. 🙂
Just my two cents.