Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Microsoft's Surface Hub Is a 'Hit', Demand Outstrips Supply (petri.com)

Posted by msmash on from the point-of-view dept.

Microsoft said on Thursday that it has sold over 500 units of the Surface Hubs, a number that apparently "exceeded" the company's initial forecasts. In a statement to Microsoft-centric blog Petri, the company said: "Demand for Surface Hubs is very strong and exceeded initial forecasts. To date, we've shipped to over 500 customers worldwide and that number continues to grow. We are ramping up production to meet this strong demand via our partner reseller channel as soon as possible. Customers are encouraged to speak with their sales representative if interested in ordering Surface Hubs." For a refresh, the Surface Hub is a giant all-in-one Windows 10 computer which retails at a starting price point of $8,999 for the 55-inch model, and goes all the way up to $21,999 for the 84-inch model.

12 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. 500 customers, not units by NotInHere · · Score: 3, Informative

    From TFA:

    To date, we’ve shipped to over 500 customers worldwide and that number continues to grow

    So there were 500 customers, not 500 units they sold.

    1. Re:500 customers, not units by rubycodez · · Score: 2

      thanks for pointing that out, I was wondering at summary, at that price it would be like Honda happy it sold 500 Civics

  2. Demand outstrips supply? by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?...

  3. More than nothing? by Carewolf · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If 500 customer far excede expectation, it sounds like they expected to sell absolutely none of these things. Which I can understand why. It seems more like a concept computer than anything made for customer demands.

    1. Re:More than nothing? by avandesande · · Score: 2

      Really? I've used plenty of videoconferencing systems and they all suck. Having one that is integrated with the computer is a great idea.

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    2. Re:More than nothing? by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      We were a customer for such a system several years ago. We bought 100 units. If everyone else does too that's 500000 very special purpose systems being sold which is an epic win in my eyes. Remember this isn't a shit little tablet being discussed here, it's a special purpose office appliance

  4. 500 UNITS or 500 CUSTOMERS? by mmell · · Score: 4, Interesting
    In this day and age, there could be a huge difference. For example, if one of those customers were a large employer purchasing machines for offices in a geographic region, one customer could well acquaint to several dozen units.

    Of course, five hundred of either is hardly enough business volume to justify being unable to fulfill demand. The thing isn't exactly new and cutting-edge technology (unless they've found a way to make the microphones work correctly, or to clean up remote audio, or even to correct for the fact that most of humanity are not cinematographers and have no idea how to compose or light a scene for video transmission).

    Teleconferencing looks great on television - but there's a reason it hasn't already caught on like wildfire. Hint: it's because on television there is at least one director and/or one cinematographer to make it look right. In reality, most people can't even frame a snapshot correctly.

  5. Re:The last time it was a coffee table by bloodhawk · · Score: 2, Informative

    500 customers not units as usual the fucking Slashdot summary is shit. These are enterprise devices, common target environment is video conferencing, would not surprise me if 500 customers equates to many thousands of units.

  6. Re:Limited demand by sexconker · · Score: 2

    people cannot work in a close contact with each other for a long time

    Explain Mulder & Scully.

  7. We're a customer with 1 unit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    And my goodness it's a pain to set up. We've been working on it for a few weeks now to replace a current regular PC connected to a regular 52'' HD screen for Lync video-conferencing, and it's still not installed for general use because of things like domain-joined-but-not-really-behaving-domain-joined, problems authenticating to proxy servers due to aforementioned issue, and other strangeness. I'm a network/firewall engineer, but the server guys working on the unit are asking for my help with wireshark and packet captures from the network side, because they can't work out what the heck the thing is doing, and it's locked down like crazy so you can't install or even inspect what you can if it was a normal Windows PC. It's not a regular computing device. I would liken it more to a Windows Phone with a giant screen, given what you're allowed to do on it.

    I wouldn't have recommended purchasing it partly because I don't trust the cloud (I assume it's purchased and not a demo unit), and this thing appears to be pretty cloud integrated, but highers ups see ooh shiny.

    1. Re:We're a customer with 1 unit by Njorthbiatr · · Score: 2

      What do you mean? It's a big touch-screen running Windows 10.

      Basically you're saying your IT department can't figure out how to network with Windows 10.

  8. success! by e432776 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I see a wonderful new recipe for corporate success here.

    1) Set the bar really low. In the basement, preferably.
    2) Sell more than that very low value. Act surprised.
    3) Success!

    Im sure the stockholders will be impressed.