If Microsoft's Surface tablets fail to take off, the company does not have a backup plan so much as a plan to keep tweaking its approach until Surface succeeds, according to the company's chief financial officer.
Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference on Wednesday, Microsoft CFO Peter Klein dismissed the notion that the company should be working on a "Plan B" for the mobile sector.
"It's less 'Plan B' than how you execute on the current plan," Klein said, according to Reuters. "We aim to evolve this generation of Windows to make sure we have the right set of experiences at the right price points for all customers."
Despite considerable effort and marketing dollars, Microsoft's Surface tablets have debuted to tepid overall reviews and disappointing sales. Fewer than 900,000 Surface tablets were sold in the fourth quarter, according to figures from Gartner. The iPad, the tablet market leader Microsoft hopes to supplant, sold 23 million units last quarter.
The iPad is available in more outlets than the Surface, since Microsoft initially restricted sales to its own retail stores and online. Microsoft has since moved to get its productivity-oriented tablet into more outlets, though it is uncertain what impact that increased visibility will have on sales. Klein said getting Surface and other Windows 8 devices to sell more briskly was a "nuanced" matter.
"It's probably more nuanced than just you lower or raise prices," he said. "it's less a Plan B and more, how do you tweak your plan, how do you bring these things to market to make sure you have the right offerings at the right price points."
