Microsoft has set an unofficial and internal goal for its Windows tablet shipments this year, including the Surface. They aim at shipping 25 million units, five times the 5 million units of 2013.
The info comes from a Taiwanese supply chain maker or two and sounds overly optimistic, if you ask me. 18-20 million units are more likely, according to the sources. Microsoft decided to offer subsidies to vendors developing and launching Windows tablets, in order to make the platform more appealing.
Sony and Lenovo have apparently lost interest in the segment, but ASUS and Acer have been very cooperative on this front. ASUS wants to ship 12 million tablets in 2014, with 4 million of them being Windows units, while Acer aims to ship 10 million tablets, including two million Windows units. HP, Dell and Toshiba are also in the mix. Surface shipments are said to increase from 3 million units in 2013 to 4.8 million to 6 mil units this year.
