MS Accessories are dead. Long live (MS) Surface accessories!

[FirehawkV21]

Summary

 As Microsoft is doing some cleaning house, they have decided to stop producing PC hardware under their name. Going forward, Surface will be the brand that will be on Microsoft's hardware portfolio (at least in the PC accessories). You can still purchase Microsoft accessories in stores, but don't expect new re-issues. 

 

Quotes

Quote

“Going forward, we are focusing on our Windows PC accessories portfolio under the Surface brand,” says Dan Laycock, senior communications manager at Microsoft, in a statement to The Verge. “We will continue to offer a range of Surface branded PC Accessories — including mice, keyboards, pens, docks, adaptive accessories, and more. Existing Microsoft branded PC accessories like mice, keyboards, and webcams will continue to be sold in existing markets at existing sell-in prices while supplies last.”

 

My thoughts

Well... That's an end of an era. I'm probably one of the few that would consider Microsoft hardware, but most of their portfolio has been pretty solid. I have been very happy with both the Microsoft Internet Keyboard and (very recently) the MS Bluetooth Mouse. The Mouse and Keyboard Center (formely IntelliType and IntelliMouse) is great as well (although, a nice UI refresh would be neat). I'm rather suprised that compared to Logi Options, it was a better package. I could adjust my current mouse's DPI, whereas my old Logitech m185 didn't allow that. Hopefully, we'll see some pretty neat accessories from the Surface team (preferably sans "Surface tax" but if it has a reasonable price, I would buy one).

 

Sources

 https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/27/23700998/microsoft-keyboard-mouse-webcam-discontinued-surface-brand

[HenrySalayne]

So they're just consolidating everything under the Surface brand?

If they rebrand existing products it doesn't need to be bad. If Microsoft simply cuts out the affordable option and you can only get the anodized aluminium "Surface" keyboard, they become Apple. Let's hope it's the first one.

[seanondemand]

Do they still make those ergonomic split keyboards from back in the day? Other than that, I don't know if there's an accessory they've made in a while that I've seen a lot of, other than maybe the arc mouse.

[Levent]

What is up with Microsoft fetish of renaming their products constantly?

[AbydosOne]

30 minutes ago, FirehawkV21 said:

I'm probably one of the few that would consider Microsoft hardware

I had their Modern Keyboard up until a couple weeks ago when I finally went mechanical. Having the fingerprint reader on a BT keyboard is way underrated.

[JoshB2084]

2 hours ago, seanondemand said:

Do they still make those ergonomic split keyboards from back in the day? Other than that, I don't know if there's an accessory they've made in a while that I've seen a lot of, other than maybe the arc mouse.

I use had this old school in the 2000s.

[seanondemand]

11 minutes ago, JoshB2084 said:

I use had this old school in the 2000s.

Oh yeah, that’s the good stuff. This is the first keyboard I can remember seeing with multimedia keys on the top and being like, how did we live without these

[Doobeedoo]

Well Intellimouse was cool though. Would be good if they a better Surface laptop lineup with modern hardware and options that is not so overpriced.

[divito]

Looks like I'll need to stock up on some Pro IntelliMouse then. Can't deal with switching to inferior mice if they all disappear and/or change under Surface.

[Arika]

if they make a 60% Microsoft modern/surface keyboard, i'll buy it immediately

 

[hishnash]

On 4/28/2023 at 8:09 AM, HenrySalayne said:

If Microsoft simply cuts out the affordable option and you can only get the anodized aluminium "Surface" keyboard, they become Apple. Let's hope it's the first one.

Of course they will do this, profit margin on a high end product is not only larger in $ but also in % as the cost of things like logistics etc is constant but the cost of the product is higher.  Why take 20% profit margin on every $ you invest when you can take 40%.  For MS board having a hardware line at all might well seem hard to justify as its profit margins are always going to be way lower than the cloud and software space were they are used to 80%+ margins.