I have to admit I’ve pretty much given up on the whole idea of a Surface Phone or Andromeda, because it’s been in the rumor mill for so long it’s clear that it’s just another one of those dead projects. But what about the entire Surface lineup? A year ago analysts were spelling doom and gloom for the Surface line, saying they’ll be dropping the whole thing. Now Panos Panay, the Surface boss protects his “child”.
Analysts called the biz a low margin one with low profits, but one year later Microsoft Surface is actually thriving. It’s getting record sales and in some regions of the world it’s outselling the iPad. Panos Panay spoke with The Independent and detailed the future of the series. He claims that the Surface line is a core part of the company’s strategy and it’s also the starting point for the way they build products.
The official also promises 100% commitment to the Surface, without any sort of hesitation. Panay even brought up the Nokia Lumia failure as a way of learning from the past and making a better hardware OEM. Lumia was a bit of a challenge and some customers lessons were also learnt. Satya Nadella is said to be all about growth mindset.
Interestingly, Panos Panay sees room for expansion in the Surface lineup. They have laptops, tablets, styli, recently also headphones. The future holds many developments and one can only guess they have to do with VR, AR, mixed reality, maybe even the foldable smartphone we keep waiting for. I recommend you read the whole interview here for extra perspective.
