Microsoft says that demand for its business-centric Surface Hub has exceeded its expectations. In the nine months since the device finally began shipping - after a number of delays - the firm says that it has sold the Surface Hub to over 2,000 unique customers.
The company says that the average order size is 50 units, although there have been some orders as large as 1,500; however, when we asked if this meant that 100,000 were sold, Microsoft wouldn"t comment. While simple math would add up to 100,000, it"s 2,000 unique customers, so since some businesses may have placed numerous orders, it"s entirely possible that the total amount of units shipped well exceeds 100,000.
The firm also says that it"s ramping up production, and that it is adding partners "who will resell Surface and provide 5-star service to our customers." In fact, some of these resellers will be participating in a new Surface Hub Try-and-Buy Program.
A "select set" of partners will be able to give Surface Hubs to businesses for up to 30 days, after which, the customer can decide if it wants to purchase them. The Program will be available in the US and European markets this winter, and in Asia Pacific "at a later date."
Microsoft says that a February 2016 study showed that the return on investment of using a Surface Hub in a company was 138%, meeting time saved is 15-23 minutes, and sales were up 20% with "a payback period of nine months."
Update: To clarify, Microsoft will have sold Surface Hub to 2,000 customers by the end of the year, and the average of 50 units per-order is in the pipeline, so it"s not fair to make any assumptions of total sales to date.