14 DAY TRIAL // On July 30, Microsoft filed its annual Form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission, offering details on its sales and revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30, and also unveiled info on the performance of its Surface tablet PC as part of the filing.
The document, available on this page, shows that the software giant’s revenue from the Surface tablet lineup was of $853 million (€643 million) in the timeframe, but does not say how many units were actually sold.
However, geekwire suggests that sales might have been in the range of 1.7 million units, although the variety of Surface RT and Surface Pro models makes it difficult to calculate an average selling price.
Back in March, a report from Bloomberg suggested that Microsoft had sold around 1.5 million Surface units up to that point, and the new figure appears to fall in line with that.
One way or the other, the Surface series is certain to have underperformed, and Microsoft recently admitted it had built more devices than it could sell.
Microsoft also posted revenue of $19.2 billion (€14.48 billion) for the Windows Division, with Surface’s performance accounting for only around 4.4 percent of it.
Furthermore, the $853 million is less than the $900 million (€678.9 million) write-down that the Redmond-based giant announced a few weeks ago (which reflected the $150 (€113) price drop that Surface RT has seen).
Furthermore, it is also less than the amount spent for the marketing of Windows 8 and Surface, it seems.
Through the aforementioned price cut, the company is looking to boost sales and clear inventories of the device. Analysts suggest that Surface RT will indeed perform better in the months to come due to that.
Later this year, new Surface RT and Surface Pro models are expected to become official, and Microsoft has already confirmed plans on the matter.