Apple Watch sales vs Microsoft Surface sales

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I started digging around a bit and came to a startling conclusion: Both Apple Watch and Microsoft Surface sales are roughly $5 billion a year. In a Bl
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I understand why you are using sales as a proxy for revenue but revenue does not always exceed sales. For example, you may need to provide substantial discounts to get buyers or absorb the cost of returned merchandise.

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Very true. I wish I could find sales figures for Microsoft!

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According to generally accepted accounting principles the revenues are reported net of allowances for discounts and returns.

Some companies choose to report line items for Gross Sales, reductions for Sales Returns and Allowances, and Net Sales.

Are you suggesting that Microsoft’s Form 10-K filing is perpetrating a financial reporting fraud on the public?

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Naw. I’m saying that revenues and sales are two different numbers – and that readers shouldn’t confuse apples with oranges. That said, though, the similar levels are striking. I wouldn’t in a million years think that the Apple Watch would be anywhere close to Surface in sales.

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My earlier comment was triggered by the statement “I searched high and low for reliable sales figures (as opposed to revenue)…”.

The inference is that the 10-K reporting is not reliable.

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… and if I left you with that impression, I apologize!

Microsoft has many perfectly legal ways of filing reports that conceal all sorts of important information. It’s always been that way.

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The securities laws don’t always require disclosure of information that is deemed “important” by some individuals.

A company choosing not to voluntarily disclose information when a disclosure requirement does not exist is not concealment.

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Absolutely.

Apple hasn’t divulged sales figures. They just offered up enough hints that Horace could narrow his projections.

Microsoft doesn’t divulge sales figures on anything of importance, far as I can recall, at least not in the past decade.

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