Saturday, July 20, 2013

Microsoft's Surface tablets: A trip down memory lane, via Apple

Should we be surprised Microsoft had to write off $900 million in unsold tablets?

FORTUNE -- I don't spend a lot of time writing about Microsoft ( MSFT) these days, but the company's re-entry into the tablet market last summer felt like news I should be covering.


After all, Apple ( AAPL) had succeeded where Microsoft had, for so many years, failed. And now Redmond was back, gunning for the iPad.


So I watched Microsoft introduce the Surface RT and the Surface Pro last June, curious to see what they might mean for Apple, and I wrote a series of blog posts tracking the progress of the new devices.


Now that we have solid evidence -- in the $900 million write-down Microsoft announced Thursday to account for unsold Surface RTs -- that the company's latest forays into the tablet market have been less than a stellar success, this may be a good time (and the perhaps the only time) to look back at my Surface stories.


In chronological order:


Video: Microsoft unveils its answer to Apple's iPad. " It's easy to forget that Bill Gates announced the specs for Microsoft's first tablet computer in 2001, nearly a decade before Apple came out with the iPad." June 19, 2012 Microsoft's new tablet: The unseemly chortling of the Apple partisans. "The Surface is greeted with guffaws and catcalls from a camp that ought to know better." June 19, 2o12 Gartner sees Microsoft stealing market share from Apple. "By 2016, it predicted in April, Windows 8 will be No. 3 in tablets and No. 2 in smartphones." June 20, 2012 Why Microsoft is building its own tablet computers. "There is no longer enough profit, writes John Gruber, in selling software alone." June 21, 2012 Apple lovers kick Microsoft's Surface while it's down: "One minute and 18 seconds of awkwardness draws millions of viewers on YouTube." June 22, 2012 Poll: Which comes first, Microsoft's Surface or Apple's television set? "One is vaporware. The other a rumor." June 25, 2012. Macalope v. Winotaur on the Microsoft Surface: "WINOTAUR: You're just upset because now we're the most exciting company in tech. MACALOPE: Uh-huh." June 26, 2012 11 Apple iPads per hour vs. zero Microsoft Surface tablets: "A survey compared sales at an Apple Store and a Microsoft Store in the Mall of America." Nov. 26, 2012 Interest in the Surface fell 53% after its price was announced: "Meanwhile, 44% of tablet shoppers plan to buy an iPad versus 24% for Kindle Fire." Dec. 13, 2012 Microsoft's Surface Pro: The reviews are in: "The verdicts range from 'magnificent, a classic' to 'hefty and costly and power-hungry.'" Feb. 8, 2013

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