Microsoft failed to recoup Surface advertising costs

Well it’s official, Microsoft’s first footsteps into the tablet market were just as shaky as we thought, with the company failing to recoup the $898 million worth of advertising for Windows 8 and the Surface.

According to Geekwire, the $863 million revenue Microsoft actually took, comes in at around 1.7 million Surfaces sold globally in 2013. To put that into perspective, on launch weekend the new iPad and iPad Mini managed to shift 3 million in just three days.

The $863 million worth of revenue doesn’t include the huge $900 million write-down it took nor does it include the advertising costs, so Microsoft has clearly lost a substantial amount of money.

Whilst this would dishearten many companies from trying again, Microsoft is already rumoured to be prepping the successor to both the Surface RT and Surface Pro.