"Microsoft built a tablet that looked like a tablet but ran nothing. $900M write-down."
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RAISED
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EMPLOYEES
24
MONTHS
marketfitSilent Shutdown
Quiet closure with no public announcement
// Fatal mistake: Windows RT product violated core Windows brand promise of software compatibility
Key Events Timeline
2012-01
FOUNDING
Microsoft internally greenlit the Surface RT project in early 2012, marking its first major foray into first-party hardware tablets.
2012-06
PRODUCT LAUNCH
Microsoft officially unveiled the Surface RT at a press event on June 18, 2012, announcing it would run Windows RT — a locked-down ARM version of Windows 8.
2012-10
PRODUCT LAUNCH
Surface RT went on sale on October 26, 2012, priced at $499 for the 32GB model, but reviews immediately flagged its inability to run legacy Windows desktop applications.
2013-05
PIVOT
Microsoft slashed the Surface RT retail price by $150 in May 2013 — less than seven months after launch — in an attempt to clear stagnant inventory and boost flagging sales.
2013-07
DOWN ROUND
Microsoft announced a $900 million inventory write-down on Surface RT in its Q4 2013 earnings report, citing excess unsold units and sharply reduced demand.
2013-09
CEO CHANGE
Steve Ballmer announced his retirement as Microsoft CEO in August 2013, with the Surface RT write-down widely cited as a contributing factor to his departure.
2013-10
REGULATORY ACTION
Microsoft quietly discontinued new Surface RT hardware production in late 2013, shifting all Surface development resources toward the Surface Pro and Surface 2 running full Windows.
2014-06
SHUTDOWN
Microsoft effectively ended the Surface RT line by mid-2014, with Windows RT receiving no further hardware support and the platform abandoned in favor of full Windows on ARM and Intel architectures.
🔥 Hall of Flame 62%🏆 Hall of Fame 65%
Microsoft launched the Surface RT in October 2012 as its first-party tablet running Windows RT — a version of Windows that looked identical to Windows 8 but could only run apps from the Microsoft Store, not traditional Windows software.
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