I don't doubt that some of the issues are with the size of the supply, but anyone who puts it solely on that is going to have something negative to say no matter what Microsoft does. All the analyst have predicted the SP3 would sell better than the SP2. Both generation 2 devices sold better than generation 1 devices. Microsoft expects some increase even if it's only 20-25% over the previous generation. Anyone who thinks they would actually stock less devices than they sold in previous generations is just crazy. Of course they didn't stock 20 million of these things, but I seriously doubt they failed to stock more than they did with the previous generation. At the very minimum they expect to sell at least what they sold before, so why would they ship less than they did last time? If having low stock just so the devices can appear to be sold out didn't help them much last time around, why on earth would they do it again. It doesn't make sense. And even if stock was low, some of that has to do with how many they could get out, I would imagine if demand keeps being high, they will continue to try to push more and more out

Yes, low stock, not high demand.

I'm afraid that it's because of the low stock...

Surface Pro 3 i3 version sold out on microsoftstore.co.uk as well

A positive kickstart for surface pro 3..... go on!

Stupid Microsoft! People want it now but they can't get it...

The one big omission is, how many did Microsoft sell via its online store (that's how I bought mine)

I was able to get an i7 from Dixon's but it was heating up so bad had to take it back, they had no replacement. Was told they only got a few for each store.

I managed to pickup an i3 SP3 on Saturday to replace my Surface RT from PC World. None of the local stores had any stock apart from one and NONE had any keyboards. The £100 cashback may of helped but I suspect not much stock went out. Managed to get a keyboard delivered to my local Waitrose from John Lewis on Sunday as well.
Got to be said they are a cracking bit of kit.

Same here, well chuffed with my i3 version

Ah yes, the same old deal as with other arrow2010 s**pid posts, no actual #s given. BS comments without any sense.

I agree

"Could it be because of low initial stock or could it be because of strong demand?"
I'd lean towards low stock... But I've never really been an optimist.

Yeah, agreed. They probably didn't manufacture that many because they thought they wouldn't sell them. I wouldn't either, after losing $1.7 billion on Surface so far...hardly a success.

I wonder if the demand will actually continue, or whether it's just a novelty because it's something new, and the stores only had a handful in stock...?

Though I agree with your argumentation, Microsoft has had the benefit of 'testing' demand in the US / Canada. And even though MS probably hasn't made loads and loads of these devices, maybe demand is bigger than expected

And people were saying that Microsoft can't sell a thing, well, there we go, your BS has just been disproved

Yes just like the couple of dozen Surface 1 & 2 & RTs they sold. But after the first few fanboys & after discounting its Zune all over again. As much as I wish differently :(

You don't wish differently. And Microsoft has produced revenue from the last generation of Surface. The demand for generation 2 was bigger than generation 1, and Microsoft did in fact sell more. Some of it selling out is Microsoft having less supply than generation 1 because in generation 1 they OVERstocked thinking there would be this runaway demand, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that demand for SP3 is likely significantly higher than SP2. Three major things that a lot of people who had SP2 or who passed up on SP2 when you read comments on a lot of sites and feedback from difference sources was: better battery life, more compact design, bigger screen. SP3 delivered all 3 of those plus a better pen experience. All the analyst are talking about demand switching back from smaller tablets to the bigger ones. Not to mention 2nd and 3rd generations got a lot more good reviews and lot less pointless hate, the brand is more recognized, and there are a lot more Windows tablets out there in the wild from various OEMS. Anyone who can't see the likelihood that SP3 has a higher demand than SP2 just doesn't want to see it. I would imagine there are some markers out there, whether it be pre-order numbers compared to previous generations or something. More than likely each generation has sold more than the previous generation. IF you don't believe that, then it won't matter if Microsoft puts out hard numbers because whomever is going to downplay whatever numbers Microsoft moves.

So your saying that a person should just "know" they are selling more & if MS released hard numbers they will be down played.

If 1000 Surface 1 sold, 3000 Surface 2 sold and 5000 Surface 3 sold it would be be a utter failure. Now if Surface 3 was 5 million, then great but without "hard" number how do we judge. Just knowing sound good but it not an option in the real world.

I don't think so, the Surface Pro 3 is selling much better than all of its predecessors combined

You have zero knowledge of that with no evidence to support a statement of that nature. Pure wishful thinking that belittles real supporters of MS.

http://www.cnet.com/news/mi... Enough proof or do you need more? I have loads more from where that came from

Proves less then nothing. A qualifier "better" is not measurable; is it one more, two better or half a million better. Then you added "much" to indicate volumes to "better" without any precision offering any quantification.

Your wishful thinking has no quality if support by this link or any other PR slanted post.

Please offer real number or please be more modest in your pronouncements.

Do you really waste their time if their numbers were only showing a handful or a couple thousand more? I seriously doubt that.

That is a very good question. Though so far, when one considers the losses associated to the product so far, the answers appears to be yes.

Let's see.......... If the first generation Surface tablets sold about 1.5M tablets (Both Pro and RT combined) and the second generation Surface sold almost triple that amount, then what we got for the 3rd Generations is "better", but no specifics it can be assumed that "better" means at least twice as many as the last Generation.

Source: Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites...

If what I'm saying is pure PR, then I guess is up to you to decide what's this: http://www.neowin.net/news/...

The first link is a dead link, the second is a red haring.

Your guesstimates about volume is just that and does the serve the discussion with any relevant information. Which, I suspect why you offered the second link to distract.

Understand it is ok and better served if you just state that you "hope" Surface 3 is doing well. While that would add much, it would be less deteriorating to the discussion.

The first link is not dead, and if you want, you can check my comment below

Who gives a shit about a tripling of sales, or even a doubling of a tripling when the total is so low.

It's a drop in the ocean. How many iPads does Apple sell again? Somewhere between 10 and 25 million per quarter. So who cares about 4.5 million in total...I'd be surprised if they had even produced 4.5 million Surface 3s to sell to be honest, judging by the demand for the previous ones.

The figures are still crap no matter how you try to spin it.

The market is there - but Microsoft isn't capturing it. I bought a Surface RT on release day, I used it for a few months and sold it, because it wasn't a whole lot of use and the screen was crap.

As for the pro models, the prices are too high for a start. What exactly is it trying to compete with? Some might say the Macbook Air, but the i5, 128GB Surface 3 (£858) is significantly more expensive than the 11" MBA (£749) when you buy the 'optional' keyboard, which is a must really if you want to replace a laptop.

Also compare the specs - yeah, the MBA has the lesser screen, but the MBA has a better processor - the 4260U, with HD5000 graphics, whereas the overpriced Surface Pro 3 lags behind with an older and cheaper 4300U with HD4400 graphics.

The pricing is completely unreasonable - apart from the screen, the MBA wins hands down.

Surface Pro 3 with Intel Core i7 actually has HD5000 graphics.

The pricing is fine, because the MBA doesn't have a touch-screen and it doesn't have a digitizer pen either.

Yes, I know it does - but I was comparing Apples with Apples so to speak.

And what is your point? Everyone knows the iPad sells a lot of units. No one is talking about iPads but you. Does this article say anything about Surface tablets selling on pace with iPads? This article is about the supply of the Surface Pro 3. Maybe the SP3 should be priced lower, but based on the specs and the facts it's in tablet form, the price is close to where it should be at least. Maybe they should just include the keyboard when you get one of the models over a certain price. But none of that has anything to do with what this article is about. The Surface Pro 3 is very likely selling more than previous generations and has higher demand. Of course Microsoft doesn't the built-in fanboyism that Apple has from all it's years of products, and the market for a pro line or laptop replacement tablet is probably nowhere near as large as the market for just a tablet to play around on. But they have to start somewhere, and they are beginning to build up their brand. They need to do better with both marketing and sales/deals, but all that considered, they're not doing too bad. And I wonder what are these magical things you're doing with iPad. I played around with a Surface RT for a little while, and I was able to do more than I'm able to do with my iPad my job provided me. Granted what I do on my iPad is limited because I'd rather just pull out the laptop, when I'm not at my office, but the only time I picked the iPad up at all when I had the RT was because certain apps and games I had only had iOS versions. I never even touched the iPad until I got a keyboard case for it. It was useless to me without one.

I don't have an iPad. :)

My point was that StarEy3 was going on about the alleged increase like it was a big thing. I said it wasn't a big thing, because it's a drop in the ocean.

Then I went on to ask what exactly they are trying to compete with with the Surface Pro 3, and the answer is nothing really because the price is too high.

They aren't doing too bad? Seriously? Are we talking about the same company and the same brand? They have lost 1.7 billion dollars on the Surface so far. Unless the object is to make a huge loss - I'd say they were doing very badly.

Fanboys....

The iPad is king, everyone knows that for a fact, if you compare any tablet at all with the iPad sales figures you are making a total overkill, no tablet on existence sells better than the iPad, but my point is, that Microsoft is doing pretty good recently considering that they had to do a $900m write off with the first-gen Surface RTs, I was never comparing the Surface with anything, just pointing out that the Pro 3 is selling better than its predecessors, nothing more

Microsoft is doing better because they are no longer losing a near billion on Surface this year. Ok, great point.

Silly me I use to think the company I love was great because they made billions of $ profit but now I understand the goal is to celebrate when they keep from losing money.

What? Microsoft, just like any other tech company always loses money when the invest in current/future products, but always recover it somewhere else (In Microsoft's case Office 365 & Azure, their most successful products yet)

Like kin, zune?

Those are different stories, you might be interested in these:

http://archive.wired.com/ga...

http://www.pcworld.com/arti...

See? EVERY SINGLE COMPANY

Your correct, other tech companies can have failures too. It appears Surface is well position as one too. Thanks for making my point.

The Surface Tablets are in the same position Android was when it first released to the public, so anything can happen, and if not, Microsoft doesn't really care, they still have OEMs

"Microsoft doesn't really care..." For the good that is whole I hope this is not true, to pursue a strategy with indifference would be managerial malpractice.

Luckily anyone one thoughtful easily sees such a statement as the muddled headed musings of wishful fandom lacking business discernment that it appears to be,

No, that statement comes from the fact that Microsoft still makes money even if it isn't selling tablets (They get a % from the paid apps on the store and also get a % from the free apps that have ads).

Now, for selling tablets, what Microsoft really wants is more Marketshare, the more marketshare, the more $$$$ they make, the more $$$$ they make, the more can they spend experimenting with new things

Or they could just focus on what they are good at Software & Services and stop lossing $$$$ on hardware failures as they are doing now on Surface

That would also Imply dropping Xbox and Bing, which is NOT happening

Bing is a cross platform service. On the other hand xBox...yes it is a great example of a poor hardware strategy. And yes you are correct the best thing would be sell or spin it off with the other $$$$$ losing hardware.

That is not a good idea, just because of the fact that dropping Xbox would cause massive backslash

Remember this great news back in 2009;

Very good!

All we know is that for the first few weeks a Microsoft Rep. "said" it was selling better. A statement that was never collaborated with definitive numbers nor reiterated any point after.

A bit of critical thinking would encourage a thoughtful person to be less enthusiastic.