So I finally was able to acquire a Pro 8, but I needed a type cover, so off to Best Buy where I heard some potentially disturbing news.
I approached one of the Sales Reps, who apparently was one of the “Microsoft Specialists” that Best Buy hires.
I asked if they had any Pro 8 Type Covers, and he told me “No they’re on their way out”
What the? I asked him to clarify, and he said that Microsoft was going to be phasing out the Tablet products in the Surface Line
So customers looking for the Pro 8 would be directed to the Laptop Studio and customers looking for the Go 3 would be directed to the Laptop Go 2, and the Pro 8 and Go 3 would be the respective end of their Product lines.
I normally take Best Buy reps with a grain of salt since most them have no clue what they are talking about…but that’s quite the tale…
Has anyone heard to same from their local best buy…and anyone with inside info care to chime in?
FWIW, we aren’t retail, but that’s nowhere close to what MS is telling us including that the Pro 8 is the fastest selling Surface Pro to date, as well as that the Go continues to sell extremely well.
That also doesn’t jibe with Microsoft partnering with Best Buy as authorized service providers.
The one possible explanation is we’ve heard that MS is revamping the MS experience centers which are in Best Buy, Microcenter and so on. These stores get advertising dollars as well as POP materials in the store. That’s why the Surface devices have their own little section in the stores for example.
The store you went to may be losing those as we’ve heard that part of the revamp is focusing on an improved experience where they exist, but that in a market where BB has multiple stores, it may be restricted to one or two “top stores”.
This is the model they do already with Magnolia, and we’ve heard that Apple is headed down the same path as they do a similar "experience center " in Best Buy stores.
Can’t imagine MS bailing on the Surface tablet line - their laptops (with exception of Studio) are just “me too” laptops with a little better build and materials, but I doubt even HP or Dell live in fear of the Surface laptops taking away their customers.
If anything, MS needs to double down on the tablet line, incorporate full Android tablet app integration (I know - been told not going to happen but they NEED tablet apps, at least full Android has some, and Chrome is still the number one Windows browser).
I’ll check with my local Bestbuy but there is a lot of activity going on there with their Microsoft display. I got to see a Surface Studio for the first time. It is really impressive.
Microsoft has done a good job getting market penetration and visibility with Surface Tablets. It is surprising how many TV shows use them at their round tables and news desks. Years ago, you would have seen IPads there. The deal with the NFL has put Surface tablets front and center on all of the NFL programming. I can’t imagine them (yes, even Microcoft) squandering that visibility.
As long as a Go is in production (and there is no regression to less powerful CPUs) I’ll probably own one.
2 Likes
Hifihedgehog
(Hifihedgehog - Waiting for Surface Pro 10!)
5
Not to put down the blue shirts, but I get better results Googling than asking a Best Buy representative. I have seen way too many people misdirected and misinformed by Best Buy employees. That’s not always the case, of course, and you will on a rare occasion chance upon some rockstar representatives, but that is most often not the case in my experience, unfortunately.