Yesterday, Microsoft announced that it’s latest tablet, the Surface Pro 3, was in short supply. That sounds great for the company, and it’s meant to. “Sold out” means little in todays technology product world. What was the last Apple product that didn’t “sell out”?
Microsoft has a good product in Surface Pro 3, but it’s also learning to play the same game. Yesterday, the software giant stated, “Due to the response, Surface Pro 3 is in limited supply in some markets. Given the interest that we saw as part of our US launch, retailers ordered what we thought was a healthy amount of Surface Pro 3s for these new markets. It turns out that we didn’t ship enough”.
That sounds wonderful, and very fortunate for Microsoft. But without numbers, the truth is that we just don’t know. I can make five of a product and claim it’s sold out, but that would be disingenuous, to put it mildly.
I am certainly not accusing Microsoft of this chicanery, nor could I, as proof doesn’t exist. I only question the validity, which comes with sales figures that we simply do not know. I suppose those shall come sooner or later, but for now, we should take this information with a grain of salt.
“We want everyone to experience ‘part of the future’ as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience and support”, the company states. That’s very noble, and everyone can give a cheer. But it also tells us nothing.
The Surface Pro 3 has sold well from most indications, but supply is the measuring stick by which such things are judged. Let us know the number produced and the amount sold and we will judge from that platform. To simply tell us “short supply” or “sold out” means you’ve done nothing but make PR push.
