Microsoft Unveils a Surface Hub Try-and-Buy Program

Microsoft is very proud of their line of Surface devices including the latest offerings such as the Surface Pro 4, Surface Book, Surface Book with Performance Base, and the new Surface Studio.

So proud that today the company took to their official devices blog and talked about the momentum behind Surface.

They did provide some general statements, in other words no sales numbers, about November being their best sales month for Surface devices in the consumer market, Surface Studio shipping to happy customers, and more people choosing to switch from Macs to Surface than ever before.

For the consumer sales statement they did include that the Best Buy exclusive Surface bundle sold out on the first day it was offered and the switch from Mac to Surface was supported by the MacBook trade in program being the best exchange program they have ever offered. Again, no specific numbers were provided to say just how many Best Buy units were available to begin with or how many MacBooks were traded in towards a Surface device.

Despite not being provided specific sales figures, the information at face value would indicate that the Surface devices are quite popular plus some really solid bundle offers and other sales prices likely helped the holiday shopping momentum.

Another device that was mentioned in this blog post was the Surface Hub. Microsoft began selling the large screened collaboration devices last year and experienced some shipping delays because the demand outstripped the supply. In addition the price was increased for the devices even before the initial units shipped although existing orders of the devices were honored at their original prices ($6.999 vs $8,999 for the 55" model and $19,999 vs $21,999 for the 84" model).

In a stat that did provide some ballpark numbers, Microsoft confirmed that they have shipped Surface Hubs to more than 2,000 customers since its launch/availability nine months ago. On average companies order 50 units but Microsoft has seen at least one order of 1,500 devices to a large car manufacturer.

In response, Microsoft states that they have increased Surface Hub production and that they are now available worldwide through their reseller channels.

So what if you are a company that wants to check out Surface Hub for more than a short demo? Well, today Microsoft unveiled a Try-and-Buy program for Surface Hub that will allow you to check out one of these devices for 30 days before signing up to purchase multiple devices. Or, if it does not meet your needs then you can return it to the company.

This reseller program will first be offered in the US and Europe in the coming weeks and then in Asia at a later date. You can find a reseller to contact about the program at Microsoft's Surface Hub Partner web portal.

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