Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has
admitted that the company built too many Surface tablets, and it's not
selling as many Windows devices as it wants. During an internal town
hall event earlier this week, Ballmer and COO Kevin Turner both
addressed the recent $900 million hit for Surface RT and
the sales pace of Windows across various devices. According to several
sources, Ballmer openly discussed Microsoft's focus on securing
Instagram for Windows Phone, and its plans for the next-generation
Surface. Neowin first reported parts of the meeting.
"We built a few more devices
than we could sell," admitted Ballmer when referring to the slow Surface
RT sales. Microsoft recently cut the price of its Surface RT tablets
by 30 percent worldwide, and Ballmer and Turner reiterated in the
internal meeting that the huge writedown was a price adjustment that was
necessary to sell Surface RT devices. While Ballmer didn't provide a
sneak peek at the next Surface, we're told he confirmed new devices are
currently being tested with incremental improvements. We understand Microsoft has been testing Surface devices with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor.
"We're not selling as many Windows devices as we want to."
Ballmer also briefly discussed
the performance of Windows. "We're not selling as many Windows devices
as we want to," he said, referring to phones, tablets, and PCs. A lack
of devices in retail stores hasn't helped Windows 8's initial prospects,
and Microsoft is now focusing on the back to school period and the
holiday season to ensure Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 devices are readily
available. Microsoft recently teamed up with Best Buy to open special Windows Stores in over 500 locations.
source [[ The Verge ]]
No comments