Steve Balmer should get credit for figuring it out!
After an Awful Marketing Campaign, MS is Learning How to Sell The Surface! Windows-based tablets market share has risen from less than 1% in 2012 to 3.4% in 2013, and is expected to reach 10.2% in 2017.
Microsoft Surface RT Launch Party (Photo credit: vernieman)
Last week, MS announced a jump in revenue of $24.52 billion for the quarter ending December 31, 2013. Surface revenue more than doubled sequentially, from $400 million in the first quarter to $893 million in the second quarter. One notable reason is that MS figured out how to sell the Surface. Instead of inane efforts (as in this picture from the intro ) to sell the Surface as an MS fanboy’s version of an iPAD, someone in Redmond figured out that the Surface is its own thing and a useful thing at that!
What changed? MARKETING. Instead of selling the Surface as a toy, the Surface 2,with its Windows operating systems, Office Suite and keyboard, bridges the the gap between laptop and tablet, appealing to users who seek the full functionality of a laptop rather than a smartphone in a tablet.
The effect is easy to see if you compare sales at Best Buy and Walmart. As Forbes reported, “Last June Microsoft MSFT +0.94% and Best Buy BBY -0.92% entered a partnership whereby Microsoft has placed Windows Stores at Best Buy. Sales of Microsoft’s Surface 32GB topped the list of items sold at Best Buy on Black Friday, according to iPad Insight. The sales picture was quite different at Walmart, where Apple AAPL -0.33%’s iPad Mini 16GB topped the list, and Target TGT +0.09%, where Apple’s iPad Air 16GB topped the list.
Microsoft’s Windows Stores occupy between 1,500 square feet to 2,200 square feet of Best Buy floor space, allowing consumers to compare and purchase a broad range of the company’s products and accessories — including Windows-based tablets and PCs, Windows Phones, Microsoft Office, Xbox, and so on.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/