The Surface devices have gotten pretty good. The Surface brand is not Microsoft’s core business as the company makes most of its revenue from cloud services, but it is a core demonstration of Microsoft’s hardware lineup.
The Surface brand is already a billion-dollar business and Microsoft’s customers are proud owners of their Surface devices. Microsoft’s Surface lineup is growing in terms of both popularity and revenue, despite this continued ascension, the analysts claim that Microsoft may kill off the Surface-branded lineup.
Microsoft’s Panos Panay says that the company has no plans to discontinue its Surface brand as it continues to be a core part of Microsoft’s strategy. The company’s hardware business is expected to play a key role in the long term.
“It’s not just a core part of our strategy and at the centre of Microsoft, it’s also a core part of how we build products at Microsoft. It’s important that that resonates. It’s important for me to say it,” Microsoft’s Panos Panay said in an interview.
Panos Panay says that Microsoft has learned quite a bit from the failure of their smartphone business.
“Lumia, of course, was a challenge. We can take those product lessons and customer lessons and move them forward. I think we have. Satya [Nadella, Microsoft CEO] talks about the growth mindset, about how we can learn as fast as we can through our successes and, mainly, our failures. When you fail, you are in a true learning mode. You are in a tremendous growth phase. And this is something we take to heart.”
Microsoft’s Panos Panay also hinted at new form factors which would bring together work and the personal life for each customer.
According to rumours, Microsoft is working on a redesigned and high-end Surface Pro model, dual-screen Surface 2-in-1 laptop and the Andromeda.
