10 Illuminating Points From Microsoft's Q1 Earnings

Microsoft Says It's Figuring Out How To Sell Surface Tablets

Microsoft "more than doubled" Surface tablet sales, and the devices generated $400 million in revenue during the quarter, Hood said. This was the first time Microsoft broke out quarterly Surface numbers, and it shows that sales have reached a point where they're not embarrassing to talk about.

Interestingly, Microsoft's Surface RT tablet "did quite well" this quarter, with the 32-GB Surface RT selling well in the education and retail segments, Hood said on the call. That's huge, since Microsoft took a $900 million charge on unsold Surface RT inventory during its last quarter.

Overall, Microsoft made "a lot of progress in sales execution on Surface" this quarter, and it's expecting that to continue in the current holiday season quarter, Hood said.