Microsoft's consumer Surface sales hit a high
In a blog post, Microsoft stated that consumer Surface sales hit a high in the month of November. The Surface series, Microsoft's proprietary hardware line, is a direct competitor with Apple's MacBook. Microsoft's blog post cheekily went on to say that consumers' disappointment with the new Touch Bar MacBook Pro (which was released in October) increased Surface sales.
Microsoft's statement in the blog post
"Our trade-in program for MacBooks was our best ever, and the combination of excitement for the innovation of Surface coupled with the disappointment of the new MacBook Pro- especially among professionals - is leading more and more people to make the switch to Surface."
Microsoft launches its trade-in programme
On 28th October, Microsoft announced its trade-in programme in a bid to augment consumer sales of its Surface devices. Simply put, Microsoft started offering a $650 discount to consumers who traded in their Apple MacBook laptops for Microsoft's Surface series. The trade-in programme lasted till 10th November on all Microsoft retail and online stores.
The impact of Microsoft's trade-in programme
Following the announcement of Microsoft's trade-in programme, the exclusive Surface bundle on Best Buy sold out on its first day. Similar momentum was seen in UK and Germany where Surface sales rose significantly for considerable periods of time in November.
Microsoft's Surface series
Microsoft's Surface is a series of touchscreen personal computers and interactive whiteboards which run on Windows. The series has five main lines of devices - the Surface and Surface Pro hybrid tablets, the Surface Book notebook, the Surface Studio 28-inch all-in-one desktop, and the Surface Hub interactive whiteboard. The Surface series aims to appeal more to creatives - a category previously dominated by Apple.
