Microsoft Surface RT Has An Identity Crisis
By Richard Hay for Windows Observer
Microsoft forced to write off nearly 1 billion dollars over the failure of the Surace RT product.–PC Pitstop
Well to say yesterday was a rough day around Microsoft’s Redmond campus would be a slight under statement.
When the reorganizing tech company announced its 4th Quarter financial results it revealed that the company took a $900 million dollar write down for Surface RT inventory adjustments.
This detail was not something they tried to bury in the press release about their financial report either. It is in the first paragraph of their Microsoft reports fourth-quarter and full-year results release in the Microsoft News Center.
Nearly one billion dollars written off on Surface RT inventory that was tied to the recent price drop for the device in retail as well as many other offers they made to various conference attendees, teachers, students, etc.
It is easy in hindsight to join all the conversations on Twitter yesterday about what Microsoft could have done differently to make Surface RT more of a success and many authors have already posted these view points and the financial results.
• Why Microsoft’s Surface RT Failed (Mashable OP-ED by Christina Warren)
• Microsoft’s $900 million Surface RT write-down- How did this happen? (All About Microsoft – Mary Jo Foley)
• Microsoft took a $900 million hit on Surface RT this quarter (The Verge – Nathan Ingraham)
• Diving Below the Surface- Here’s All the Microsoft Q4 Charts and More to Peruse (All Things D – Kara Swisher)
• Microsoft Q4 Earnings- A Surfeit of Surfaces and the Post-PC Era = Trouble (All Things D – Kara Swisher)
This excerpt appears with permission from Windows Observer.
