Gradly™

Panos Panay on Microsoft Surface:

Surface Windows 8 Pro 64GB is available online or from store shelves at all Microsoft retail stores in the U.S. and Canada, at Staples and Best Buy in the United States and from Best Buy and Future Shop in Canada. Customer response to the launch of Surface Pro has been amazing. We’re working with our retail partners who are currently out of stock of the 128GB Surface Pro to replenish supplies as quickly as possible. Our priority is to ensure that every customer gets their new Surface Pro as soon as possible.

This isn’t the first time Microsoft has sold out of a product that subsequently did so poorly that the company abandoned the entire business.

Remember the Zune HD? That was just over three years ago in 2009, back before Microsoft scrambled to port Windows 7 to the ARM architecture for the Surface RT. It was widely reported to have “sold out” from Amazon to Newegg to BestBuy. Two years later it was discontinued because in reality it never sold well.

John Paczkowski for AllThingsD:

BlackBerry has lost another big enterprise customer. Home improvement retailer Home Depot is switching to iPhone, transitioning some 10,000 employees to Apple’s handset. Sources familiar with the matter tell AllThingsD that, in the months ahead, the company — the fifth-largest retailer in the world — plans to outfit store, district and corporate management with iPhones.

And the exodus continues…

Felix Richter for Statista:

What most of the stories on Apple’s demise overlooked, or chose to ignore, was the fact that the company had just delivered record revenue and one of the highest quarterly profits ever to be reported by any company – ever. CEO Tim Cook later pointed out to Apple’s employees, that he felt his company was unjustly assessed by Wall Street and that “the only companies that report better quarters pump oil”.

For whatever the Wall Street analysts think, Apple’s “disappointing” quarter was still more profitable than the profits recorded by even other super-profitable companies

Matt McGee for Marketingland:

The Baltimore Ravens just beat the San Francisco 49ers to win Super Bowl XLVII in a game that came down to the final seconds. But online, the social network showdown belonged to Twitter in a dominating win over Facebook, Google+ and all other social networks.

According to my count, Twitter was mentioned in 26 of 52 national TV commercials — that’s 50 percent of the spots that aired during CBS’ game coverage. Facebook was mentioned in only four of those commercials — about eight percent. Google+, which is reportedly the No. 2 social network in the world, wasn’t mentioned at all.

I’m not surprised at hashtags gaining such momentum by advertisers