Biz & IT —

Microsoft’s surprise hardware hit: The Surface Hub

The conference room computer is now apparently a billion-dollar business.

Microsoft’s surprise hardware hit: The Surface Hub
Microsoft

Microsoft has hit a hardware home run that surprised even the people in Redmond. The Surface Hub conference room PC turns out to be selling like hotcakes, surpassing everyone's expectations.

When Microsoft launched its Surface Hub conference room computers about a year and a half ago, we weren't entirely sure what to make of them. On the one hand, they offered a smart mix of video conferencing, digital whiteboarding, and collaborative working with a price that felt surprisingly low—$6,999 for the 55-inch version and $19,999 for the 84-inch version. On the other hand, meeting rooms are where old technology clings on to the bitter end; VGA ports are still abundant, clunky video conferencing systems are the norm, and for many companies a whiteboard is as high-tech as it gets.

There were initial signs of strong demand. Microsoft delayed the release, from September 2015 to January 2016, claiming that higher than expected demand (in particular of the 84-inch version) meant the company needed to change its manufacturing capabilities. The company also hiked the price of both models by $2,000, to $8,999 and $21,999—another move suggesting that demand was healthy.

We expected companies would buy a couple of the Surface Hub systems to see if they fit into their workflows. If organizations were ready to make the leap to Skype for Business, Exchange integration, a custom version of Windows 10, and more, we figured maybe a handful more sales would follow from this trial. Microsoft tells us that it expected the same, predicting that companies adopting Surface Hub would buy five to 20 of the machines. Now, after almost a year of real availability, we've learned that's not what happened.

The average Surface Hub customer is buying about 50 devices for each deployment, and the company has achieved will hit more than 2,000 customers by the end of the year. One (unnamed) car manufacturer bought 1,500 of the things. Though Microsoft didn't reveal the exact mix between sizes, Surface Hub looks like it's another billion-dollar-a-year business for the software giant—to boot, it's a piece of hardware that it got right even in version one. In a Forrester report commissioned by Microsoft, it's claimed that meetings start more promptly—less faffing about to get remote attendees dialed in or computers hooked up to the projector—saving 15 to 23 minutes per meeting. Less measurable, Microsoft claims that Surface Hub is also driving greater meeting engagement, with people standing up and engaging with each other and the screen rather than hiding behind their laptop screens around a conference table or quietly playing games on their phones.

Update: Microsoft's blog originally claimed that the company had already sold Surface Hub to 2,000 customers; it now says that it will reach this number by the end of the year.

In 2017, Microsoft will be adding new value-added resellers for the systems, who will coordinate installation, integration with AV systems, and custom application development. A "Try and Buy" scheme is also being rolled out, with customers getting up to five units at a discount for 30 days prior to placing any larger order.

In spite of a lack of major hardware refreshes, Microsoft says that other Surface products are also doing well. November was the best month ever for consumer Surface sales, on the back of a Best Buy promotion. The faster, longer-lasting Surface Book with Performance Base is now available in Australia and New Zealand, in addition to the US and Canada. Early next quarter, it will be sold in Austria, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Switzerland, and the UK.

Channel Ars Technica