A Microsoft Reseller Explains A Big Fat Reason Why Microsoft's Surface PC Hasn't Sold Well
In March, reports indicated that Microsoft had only sold about 1.5 million tablets. Those are really old numbers, we know, but there hasn't been any indication that Surface tablets have gone crazy since then.
The whole PC market, including
There's something that Microsoft could do, tomorrow, that would really help the situation. It could let its entire, massive reseller channel sell tablets to their customers. Resellers pull together hardware and software to sell a whole package, often writing custom software, too. They could do this with Windows 8 and the
Microsoft did recently agree to let a handful of its biggest resellers sell the Surface tablet. But instead of telling the rest of them that they could do the same last week at the company's Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston, COO Kevin Turner said something different.
He told the resellers to bring their customers to a Microsoft Retail store and show them the Surface devices there: "You should feel free to use our store as an extension to your office," he said. "Bring your customers there."
Bob Venero, CEO of Holbrook, N.Y. reseller Future Tech, was incredulous."Really? Hey guys, let's bring our customers in and tell them, 'Look at all of this cool stuff. By the way, you can't buy any of it from us.' What? It's insanity," Venero told Business Insider.
Keeping the Surface away from the channel is also "an emotional issue" for resellers because the Surface is supposed to represent the best Windows 8 PC possible, he said. Why wouldn't Microsoft want its partners to be able to sell the best, he wonders.
Microsoft's reorganization last week doesn't look like it will solve the problem anytime soon.
"I"m trying to figure out the rationale, to understand why they put the Surface under a retail scenario. Xbox is retail. Where clearly the direction we're told from Microsoft is that Surface is for corporate [users] and it wants to drive it into the
In that case, it makes even more sense to let resellers sell it, he believes.
Meanwhile, with the Surface firmly out of reach, Venero has other options. He just lead a deal to equip his customer, JetBlue, with 2,500 iPads for its pilots.
"As Microsoft continues to go down this path with Surface and alienating its partners that drive Microsoft solutions, at the end of the day its another slap in the face to the partner community," he told us.
We asked Microsoft why it hasn't made the Surface available to all of its reseller partners. This is Microsoft's response:
"This first phase of authorized resellers were selected because of their extensive knowledge, services and support they’re able to bring to the Surface family. We’ll sign up more resellers and reach more countries in the coming months, but have nothing further to share at this time."
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- BenQ Zowie XL2546X review – Monitor for the serious gamers
- 9 health benefits of drinking sugarcane juice in summer
- 10 benefits of incorporating almond oil into your daily diet
- From heart health to detoxification: 10 reasons to eat beetroot
- Why did a NASA spacecraft suddenly start talking gibberish after more than 45 years of operation? What fixed it?
- Nothing Phone (2a) blue edition launched
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market