Microsoft raised the bar for Windows PCs with its Surface computers, despite low share after a decade
Panos Panay, chief product officer of Microsoft Corp., displays the new Surface Laptop 3 computer during a Microsoft product event in New York on Oct. 2, 2019. Microsoft unveiled a dual-screen, foldable phone that will run on Google’s Android operating system, jumping back into a market it exited years ago.
Mark Kauzlarich | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Microsoft made a splash in 2012 when it introduced the Surface, the first computer it had built in its 37 years of existence. The computers are still kicking 10 years later, with Microsoft issuing annual updates, but Surface’s mega-growth is long in the past.
Microsoft tried to reimagine tablets, which are made popular by the iPad, when it launched into the PC market. In 2012, the Surface with Windows RT, later named Surface RT, was more than just a touchscreen slab like Apple’s iPad. The Surface could act as a full PC with an optional cover featuring a keyboard and trackpad.
Apple in the ensuing years would make the iPad more like the Surface, adding similar accessories, while Microsoft would do what it usually does: Roll out a series of small updates. It later added new Surface computers to the family, including an all-in-one PC, a standard laptop and miniature versions of the Surface.
Those steps have brought about growth. In Microsoft’s most recent fiscal year, Surface kicked in $6.7 billion of the company’s $198 billion in total revenue. That’s more than the total revenue of over 100 companies in the S&P 500 index.
But the hyper-growth vanished after the first three years. In the 2022 fiscal year, Surface revenue increased by 3%, despite being smaller than PC initiatives at several other companies. Apple’s Mac business, at almost $38 billion, grew about 8% over the same period.
Surfaces just aren’t as popular as other computers. They have never managed to take more than 2.1% market share of PC shipments, according to an estimate from technology industry researcher Gartner. Lenovo has a 25% share of the market, while HP has 19% and Dell has 18%, respectively.
Microsoft declined to comment on whether it considers Surface successful.
“We design Surface to be the one place where the best of Microsoft comes together, delighting customers and inspiring the Windows ecosystem,” a spokesperson told CNBC in an email. “Surface began as a tablet to replace your laptop, showcasing Windows capabilities like touch, ink, Windows Hello, and more. Since then, the 2-in-1 category has taken off and Surface has grown into an innovative portfolio of products offering premium designs and capabilities that consistently earn high customer satisfaction.”
That Surface has not surpassed more experienced PC makers might not be such a bad thing anyway. PC builders are among Microsoft’s most prominent clients because they pay Microsoft a fee for the copy of Windows that goes on each computer. Upstaging them might not be wise.
Surface has held on to an important role — bringing to market Windows PCs with fresh designs, Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa told CNBC in an interview.
“I think those are the things they should really focus on, instead of looking for share gain and revenue growth,” she said.
If Microsoft were to charge forward in pursuit of dominant share, they could kill their customers, she said. Kitagawa recalled that Windows PC makers were not very happy with Microsoft when the first Surfaces arrived. “Taking 3% share was taking from somebody, right? That’s not incremental share,” she said.
Premium feel
Microsoft Corp.’s Surface tablet computers, aiming to compete with Apple’s iPad, are displayed at Hollywood’s Milk Studios in Los Angeles Monday, June 18, 2012. The 9.3-millimeter thick tablet comes with a kickstand to hold it upright and keyboard that is part of the device’s cover. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Damian Dovarganes
The first line of the news release about the 2012 Surface showed Microsoft’s intent. These computers were meant to be “the ultimate stage for Windows.” A section near the bottom acknowledged the clients that were suddenly becoming the competition. “Microsoft is delivering a unique contribution to an already strong and growing ecosystem of functional and stylish devices delivered by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to bring the experience of Windows to consumers and businesses around the globe,” the company said.
The inaugural Surface, the Surface RT running Windows RT, boasted clever physical attributes. A thin but sturdy kickstand could sweep out and prop up the display on a table or a desk. The case was made out of magnesium in a process called VaporMg, which lends it a premium feel akin to the aluminum wrapping up Apple’s MacBooks. An optional magnetic Touch Cover contained a narrow keyboard and a trackpad that doubled as a cover for the display. A power-sipping Arm chip gave it respectable battery life.
But the Surface RT blocked people from opening programs that weren’t listed in Microsoft’s app store, preventing them from using most existing Windows software. Basically, there wasn’t a lot you could do with it, and many third-party developers hadn’t done the work to adapt their software to it. The device garnered less than glowing reviews, with The Verge calling it “honestly perplexing.” “Little inconsistencies and bafflements are everywhere,” The New York Times’ David Pogue wrote.
Microsoft Surface with Windows 8 Pro
Source: Microsoft.com
In 2013 Microsoft brought out the Surface RT’s more expensive and more powerful sibling, the Surface Pro. It contained a stylus, along with an Intel chip that could run real Windows programs, with stronger performance than the Surface RT.
For Microsoft to put forth a more traditional Intel-based Windows PC would be bold. It would directly challenge some of the company’s top clients. “It did not seem prudent,” Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft’s Windows division who left the company in 2012, wrote in “Hardcore Software,” a detailed recollection of his experience that he’s been publishing in parts on Substack. Windows was Microsoft’s main source of profit. If even one of the major Windows device makers were to stop building Windows PCs, that would be, in Sinofsky’s words, “a massive problem.”
Microsoft pressed on anyway.
Like the Arm-based Surface RT, the Intel-powered Surface Pro wasn’t perfect. It could only run for a few hours on a single charge, and it was heavy and impractical to use as a tablet. And regular laptops offered better keyboards than those that Microsoft sold separately for the Surface Pro.
Cutting into profit
Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go 2 starts at $599.
Microsoft
A few months later Microsoft revealed a black eye. It trimmed the price of the Surface RT by $150 to $349 and instituted inventory adjustments for related parts and accessories, which resulted in a $596 million reduction in its quarterly net income.
But Microsoft did what it usually does. It stuck with the Surface line instead of ditching a challenged brand. It rolled out refinements, such as making the hinge on the back of the tablet adjustable and changing the aspect ratio in such a way that work became more comfortable in landscape orientation.
- By 2015, Microsoft had walked away from Windows RT and was focused on building devices with Intel chips that could run standard Windows applications.
Meanwhile, copycats were coming out from top PC makers such as Dell, HP and Lenovo. And Apple was also responding, rolling out the laptop-like 12.9-inch iPad Pro and compatible Apple Pencil stylus and Smart Keyboard cover in 2015.
It was a strong dose of validation for Microsoft. In 2012, before the Surface came out, and there were only rumors of Microsoft’s plans for Windows, Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts that “you can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user.”
Yet in 2017, Apple, perhaps Microsoft’s toughest corporate critic, capitulated. It came out with a toaster-refrigerator combo of its own, said Michael Gartenberg, a technology industry strategist and former Gartner analyst. “It’s clearly become a mainstream design,” Gartenberg said.
Also that year Microsoft introduced the Surface Laptop. While it was as boring as any other laptop, it left out the software that sometimes could burden Windows PCs from other manufacturers, the sorts of things end users might want to spend time deleting, Gartenberg said.
Microsoft Corp. surface 5 laptop computers on display at the company’s Ignite Spotlight event in Seoul, South Korea, on Nov. 15, 2022. CEO Satya Nadella gave a keynote speech at an event hosted by the company’s Korean unit.
SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images
In 2019, Microsoft took another shot at an Arm-based Surface, with the Surface Pro X. Reviewers gave it credit for long battery life but dinged it for performance and compatibility reasons, not unlike the original Surface RT.
This year, Microsoft made things more complex by introducing an Intel-based Surface Pro 9 along with an Arm-based version, which put an end to the distinct brand for Arm-flavored Surface. People have fretted that the Arm model of the Pro 9 is still unable to run some programs. The Intel version has received more praise. “The removal of the headphone jack is the only new thing that’s wrong with it,” Ars Technica said in its review.
Those who opt for the Surface Pro 9 with an Arm chip can at least access a broad swath of apps. The 2022 update to Windows 11 includes a way to run over 50,000 Android apps through the Amazon Appstore.
If you look at it for just a second, the Surface Pro 9 with Intel inside looks a bit like the 10-year-old Surface RT. Changes inside and out have made it tougher to dismiss as a novelty. There’s a button to enable the Function row on the keyboard, which boasts a more responsive trackpad. Enhancements to Windows make it easier to tap buttons on the screen when using the Surface as a tablet. You can open the programs you need.
Surface Pro 9, Surface Laptop 5 and Surface Studio 2+.
Microsoft
Gartenberg, who lives in New Jersey, doesn’t see many people using Surfaces in the real world, although he did recently witness a man working on a Surface while walking around outside. The man was wearing a harness that held the Surface just off his chest, so he could tap on the screen when necessary, Gartenberg said.
There’s one place you’ll certainly see them, though. During televised games, you can spot players, coaches and referees using branded Surface machines at National Football League games as a result of a partnership Microsoft struck with the NFL in 2013.
Buffalo Bills defensive line coach Eric Washington reviews plays on a Microsoft Surface tablet
Robin Alam | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images
In the course of a decade, Microsoft has managed to raise the bar for Windows PC makers, demonstrating that a top tier of Windows can exist, Gartenberg said.
“If someone said to me, ‘I need a Windows PC,’ what would I recommend? I would say, ‘Go see what Microsoft is offering. Go see if that meets your needs,'” he said. “‘It’s not going to come with any junk you’re going to call me about, and it will just work.'”
‘No compromise whatsoever’
Surface Pro 9.
Microsoft
Still, it’s not very easy to locate Surface diehards. A few can be found by surfing Craigslist.
There is, for example, Stephane Prunet, an investment advisor in Berkeley, California. For years the device’s unconventional design has appealed to him. He bought a Surface Pro 3 and then a Surface Pro 7. The latter, which came out in 2019, is his main computer, and he runs Microsoft Excel and other work-related programs on it.
“I almost never use it as a tablet. Maybe I should, but I don’t,” he said. Earlier this month he listed both on Craigslist. If someone buys the Surface Pro 7 for a good price, he’ll upgrade to the Surface Pro 9, which has a larger display.
If not, he said, he’ll hang on to the 3-year-old Surface. He won’t be giving it away to one of his children. His daughter uses a Mac, and his son is happy with his own Windows laptop. “He’s never shown interest in the Surface,” Prunet said.
Sure, some people might want a bigger screen, but beyond that, he doesn’t understand how people would be better off with a regular laptop than with a Surface.
“Except the fact that maybe some laptops are less expensive. That’s probably an explanation,” he said. “Because otherwise, I find there is no compromise whatsoever. In fact, there are only benefits. The keyboard is very comfy. It’s not as rigid as a laptop, but who cares?”
WATCH: The Microsoft Surface Go is a good computer, but a very bad tablet
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Reddit CEO Steve Huffman stands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) after ringing a bell on the floor setting the share price at $47 in its initial public offering (IPO) on March 21, 2024 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images
For 20 years, Reddit has pitched itself as “the front page of the internet.” AI threatens to change that.
As social media has changed over the past two decades with the shift to mobile and the more recent focus on short-form video, peers like MySpace, Digg and Flickr have faded into oblivion. Reddit, meanwhile, has refused to die, chugging along and gaining an audience of over 108 million daily users who congregate in more than 100,000 subreddit communities. There, Reddit users keep it old school and leave simple text comments to one another about their favorite hobbies, pastimes and interests.
Those user-generated text comments are a treasure trove that, in the age of artificial intelligence, Reddit is fighting to defend.
The emergence of AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini threaten to inhale vast swaths of data from services like Reddit. As more people turn to chatbots for information they previously went to websites for, Reddit faces a gargantuan challenge gaining new users, particularly if Google’s search floodgates dry up.
CEO Steve Huffman explained Reddit’s situation to analysts in May, saying that challenges like the one AI poses can also create opportunities.
While the “search ecosystem is under heavy construction,” Huffman said he’s betting that the voices of Reddit’s users will help it stand out amid the “annotated sterile answers from AI.”
Huffman doubled down on that notion last week, saying on a podcast that the reality is AI is still in its infancy.
“There will always be a need, a desire for people to talk to people about stuff,” Huffman said. “That is where we are going to be focused.”
Huffman may be correct about Reddit’s loyal user base, but in the age of AI, many users simply “go the easiest possible way,” said Ann Smarty, a marketing and reputation management consultant who helps brands monitor consumer perception on Reddit. And there may be no simpler way of finding answers on the internet than simply asking ChatGPT a question, Smarty said.
“People do not want to click,” she said. “They just want those quick answers.”
Protecting Reddit’s data from AI
In a sign that the company believes so deeply in the value of its data, Reddit sued Anthropic earlier this month, alleging that the AI startup “engaged in unlawful and unfair business acts” by scraping subreddits for information to improve its large language models.
While book authors have taken companies like Meta and Anthropic to court alleging that their AI models break copyright law and have suffered recent losses, Reddit is basing its lawsuit on the argument of unfair business practices. Reddit’s case appears to center on Anthropic’s “commercial exploitation of the data which they don’t own,” said Randy McCarthy, head of the IP law group at Hall Estill.
Reddit is defending its platform of user-generated content, said Jason Bloom, IP litigation chair at the law firm Haynes Boone.
The social media company’s repository of “detailed and informative discussions” are particularly useful for “training an AI bot or an AI platform,” Bloom said. As many AI researchers have noted, Reddit’s large volume of moderated conversations can help make AI chatbots produce more natural-sounding responses to questions covering countless topics than say a university textbook.
Although Reddit has AI-related data-licensing agreements with OpenAI and Google, the company alleged in its lawsuit that Anthropic has been covertly siphoning its data without obtaining permission. Reddit alleges that Anthropic’s data-hoovering actions are “interfering with Reddit’s contractual relationships with Reddit’s users,” the legal filing said.
This lack of clarity regarding what is permitted when it comes to the use of data scraping for AI is what Reddit’s case and other similar lawsuits are all about, legal and AI experts said.
“Commercial use requires commercial terms,” Huffman said on The Best One Yet podcast. “When you use something — content or data or some resource — in business, you pay for it.”
Avishek Das | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Anthropic disagrees “with Reddit’s claims and will defend ourselves vigorously,” a company spokesperson told CNBC.
Reddit’s decision to sue over claims of unfair business practices instead of copyright infringement underscores the differences between traditional publishers and platforms like Reddit that host user-generated content, McCarthy said.
Bloom said that Reddit could have a valid case against Anthropic because social media platforms have many different revenue streams. One such revenue stream is selling access to their data, Bloom said.
That “enables them to sell and license that data for legitimate uses while still protecting their consumers privacy and whatnot,” Bloom said.
Fighting AI with AI
Reddit isn’t just fending off AI. It launched its own Reddit Answers AI service in December, using technology from OpenAI and Google.
Unlike general-purpose chatbots that summarize others’ web pages, the Reddit Answers chatbot generates responses based purely on the social media service, and it redirects people to the source conversations so they can see the specific user comments. A Reddit spokesperson said that over 1 million people are using Reddit Answers each week.
Huffman has been pitching Reddit Answers as a best-of-both worlds tool, gluing together the simplicity of AI chatbots with Reddit’s corpus of commentary. He used the feature after seeing electronic music group Justice play recently in San Francisco.
“I was like, how long is this set? And Reddit could tell me it’s 90 minutes ’cause somebody had already asked that question on Reddit,” Huffman said on the podcast.
Though investors are concerned about AI negatively impacting Reddit’s user growth, Seaport Senior Internet Analyst Aaron Kessler said he agrees with Huffman’s sentiment that the site’s original content gives it staying power.
People who visit Reddit often search for information about things or places they may be interested in, like tennis rackets or ski resorts, Kessler said. This user data indicates “commercial intent,” which means advertisers are increasingly considering Reddit as a place to run online ads, he said.
“You can tell by which page you’re on within Reddit what the consumer is interested in,” Kessler said. “You could probably even argue there’s stronger signals on Reddit versus a Facebook or Instagram, where people may just be browsing videos.”
WATCH: Reddit sues Anthropic alleging wrongful use of content.
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