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| Microsoft fresh out of pre-orders for Surface |
| By Thom Holwerda, submitted by lucas_maximus on 2012-10-18 11:58:12 |
| "This may be a good sign for Microsoft: a little over a day after putting its new Surface RT tablet up for pre-order, the entry-level $499 version of the tablet has sold out. Its estimated shipping time has slipped from October 26, Windows 8's release date, to a more nebulous 'within three weeks'." We'll see. Wouldn't be the first time a company artificially keeps supply short to generate 'sold-out' hype. |
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| Maybe not this time. |
| By przemo_li on 2012-10-18 12:48:13 |
|
MS limited "numbers" for sale to 3 mln this year. And lets face it, its THE WinRT tablet. Anyone who want to have Win on ARM (why is beyond me :P) will go to pre order. I think that numbers will be below 100k. Like 10% of 1 mln. Like 3 months left of this year with 3mln year sales as MS target. |
 - Score: 0 |
| Comment by Radio |
| By Radio on 2012-10-18 13:54:18 |
|
Those are as many tablets Microsoft's OEM are not gonna sell. Too bad, suckers. Shouldn't have relied on Microsoft. |
| - Score: -1 |
| Just the beginning |
| By kwan_e on 2012-10-18 14:33:41 |
| Of course, this pre-order sell out only scratches the... um... outside or top of an object... |
| - Score: 7 |
| RE: Maybe not this time. |
| By some1 on 2012-10-18 15:20:01 |
|
No, this is actually THE Windows RT tablet. WinRT stands for Windows Runtime: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Win... Welcome to the new Microsoft naming strategy. |
| - Score: 3 |
| All 3 device sold... |
| By TemporalBeing on 2012-10-18 15:32:59 |
| Balmer probably bought them. |
| - Score: 4 |
| RE: Comment by Radio |
| By Nelson on 2012-10-18 16:23:55 |
|
What is the alternative? Android? Where they've collectively sold like 10 tablets? OEMs are going to sell more Windows 8/Windows RT tablets than Android tablets. Fast. I expect within a year that Android will be completely defeated in the high end tablet space. Sure there will be the Kindle Fire, Nexus 7, Nooks, and the shitty Chinese tabs they sell down the block, but that will be the niche Android is forced into. |
| - Score: -1 |
| RE[2]: Comment by Radio |
| By Thom_Holwerda on 2012-10-18 16:28:36 |
| 40% market share for Android tablets. |
| - Score: 5 |
| RE: Maybe not this time. |
| By DOSguy on 2012-10-18 16:36:22 |
|
> why is beyond me the break with win32 on RT might prove to be a very good move in the long run. Devices where battery preservation is critical, are not served with lazily ported Windows applications. Yes, this means there will not be a large number of apps in the beginning, but if these tables sell reasonably well this won't be a problem for very long. |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE[3]: Comment by Radio |
| By Nelson on 2012-10-18 16:51:44 |
|
Nice twist. I was speaking about the premium market. Not the sub $200 tablet market that no one but Android really competes in. A great, great majority of those are Kindle Fires and Nooks. If it even reaches 40% market share world wide I don't know, but I'd be incredibly surprised given that Kindle Fire is US only. I'd wager its something half that. In other words, incompatible forks of Android which don't directly benefit Google. When speaking about viable alternatives .. its not like ASUS or HP or somebody can just license the Kindle Fire, or necessarily replicate their success with vanilla Android. Android has been utterly and completely beaten into submission at iPad price ranges, the premium market. Windows 8 is the only alternative. |
| - Score: 1 |
| RE: Maybe not this time. |
| By Nelson on 2012-10-18 16:57:01 |
|
I agree about Windows on ARM being useless. I just don't see the long term advantages. Look at Intels roadmap over the next few years and you'll see them rapidly scaling down power consumption and scaling up GPU performance to erase ARM's advantage. Intel's SoC designs also incorporate connected stand-by which means that Win8 tabs with those chips will have decent battery life. If they can get even eight hours out of a charge then its already mostly close enough. (Note: This applies to Atom SoC designs only, not high end Win8 tabs with Core i7's) I don't think Win32 will go away fast enough for Windows RT to outsell Windows 8. I think that in the long run, people will have their tablets be the center of their digital life and just dock them to output to a monitor, and use Bluetooth keyboards and mice to get productive stuff done. Intel will win the architecture war. I have full faith in their expertise and their leads in fab technology. |
| - Score: 2 |
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