6 ms·
Erm, always killed it? Zune, Surface, Lumia?
by beggi 12y ago
Erm, always killed it? Zune, Surface, Lumia?
- curiousDog 12y agoHardware-wise, I'd say yes. I haven't used a Lumia but the Zune-HD and Surface were actually well made.
- brianpgordon 12y agoXbox 360?
- yzzxy 12y agoOne of the bestselling game platforms ever with a library rivaling the PS2? Yes, the RROD was a huge debacle and too many lost money on broken Xboxes. That doesn't change the fact that people bought 70 million of the things, and generally seemed to love them.
- serf 12y agoYou're absolutely right if the discussion was about the business success of the game console, but it's not. It's about Microsoft always having 'hardware that's killing it', which is made pretty untrue by the consoles' faulty reliability in the past. A whole cottage industry of aftermarket console cooling apparatus was spawned due to the first Xbox's history, and it didn't help whatsoever in staying the problems that the second one had. It was a business success regardless, but that's not the topic at hand.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- madoublet 12y agoNot to mention the Lumia just became a Microsoft product. Microsoft has yet to put their own stamp on the brand.
- lotharbot 12y agoThere's an old Microsoft joystick (the Sidewinder 3D Pro) that hasn't been made in at least a decade, but several friends of mine still use them (with custom gameport-to-USB converters specifically designed for that stick.) Yet another quality piece of Microsoft hardware.
- prawn 12y agoWith my RMBP, I use a Microsoft wired mouse that would be about 15 years old. I want to get a wireless mouse, but I don't want to lose the feeling of this one!
- w-ll 12y agoThe Microsoft Intellimouse is the best desktop mouse ever.
- foobarian 12y agoI still have my Sidewinder joystick :) It survived several moves over the years, and still works perfectly. Really solid piece of hardware.
- Gigablah 12y agoThe Lumia is excellent hardware with a nice OS. Unfortunately I switched away because the ecosystem wasn't good enough at the time.
- Encosia 12y agoIIRC, Surface is one of the key reasons Microsoft did so well in the last quarter.
- mistermann 12y agoYou mean revenue wise? Is it anything more than a rounding error? (Serious question.)
- Encosia 12y agoAccording to http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2014/10/27/microsoft-earnings-hardware-sales-and-cloud-services-boosts-revenues/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2014/10/27/mic..., they sold $908 million in Surfaces, out of 2.45 billion total hardware sales (including Xbox), last quarter. Total revenue last quarter for Microsoft was 23.20 billion. So, Surface won't be replacing Windows/Office any time soon, but nearly a billion in revenue for what a lot of people try to frame as a failed product is not too shabby.
- mistermann 12y agoWow, that is very eye opening, thanks!
- foz 12y agoFor Surface, Microsoft made $908m in sales, but spent $839m to make the devices. Compare that to last year, when they sold $2.13b worth of Surface devices but spent $2.87b to make them.[1] I wouldn't say it's a key profit area for them yet, and we also can't call it a success yet (as they haven't reported the total retail purchases). [1] http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/10/24/a-win-for-microsofts-surface-business-not-gushing-red-ink/ http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/10/24/a-win-for-microsofts-...
- wlesieutre 12y agoZune had problems, but hardware wasn't one of them. At least not from the five minutes that I ever used one. Which was maybe the only Zune I ever saw.
- ANTSANTS 12y agoSeconding this. I used one for a few years and while I loved the device itself and everything about its interface, it was hampered by the poor software (a reskinned version of Windows Media Player, basically) required to sync anything to it, and the fact that no one cared enough about Zunes to reverse them like they did with the iPods :( I might still be using it if it had drag and drop file management.
- girvo 12y agoAll excellent hardware, and I say that as someone who uses Apple products entirely.
- wavefunction 12y agoThe SurfacePro was pretty cool when I played around with it. Microsoft keyboards and mice have been consistently great for as long as I can remember.
- damian2000 12y agoYou forgot the Microsoft Courier.
- delecti 12y agoI'm not sure a company should really get any credit or criticism from a cancelled project that was never advertised.
- pedalpete 12y agoI still use my Zune-hd, kinda amazed the battery has lasted as long as it has. It is still a beautiful piece of kit. Fits in the hand so well. No updates to the OS, but the music player was so good it isn't necessary. My only wish was that it didn't have a proprietary charging port.
- zamalek 12y ago> Lumia If you had actually used one as a real phone, I doubt you would be saying that the "hardware" isn't good. The core components are as good as the competition. The amount of sensors available to developers is ludicrous. Not only that, if the build (phone body) forms part of what you would call "hardware" - it truly lives up to the Nokia reputation.
- Torn 12y agoSurface Pro 3 is a great piece of kit
- Igglyboo 12y agoThe Zune HD was extremely well built.
- Already__Taken 12y agoThe surface pro 3 is a masterpiece. I haven't held anything nicer.