Microsoft describes 'epic' 2012, but 2013 will have its obstacles

It was the year, after all, in which the company launched Windows 8, a radical revamp of its flagship operating system.

It was also a year when Microsoft launched or previewed new versions of nearly all its products and services; debuted its first branded computing device, the Surface tablet; and announced it was moving from focusing almost primarily on software toward becoming a devices-and-services company.

So how epic did 2012 turn out to be?

“There's a term in aviation: V1. It's when an aircraft has reached a velocity at which it has to take off,” said Wes Miller, an analyst at independent research firm Directions on Microsoft.

In 2012, Microsoft's efforts were all about achieving V1.

And now, “we're heading toward cruising altitude but we don't know how long that will take or how bumpy it will be,” Miller said.

Here's a look at significant events in Microsoft's 2012 “epic,” “V1” year, and some challenges that experts think the company faces in 2013.

WINDOWS 8 LAUNCH: The moment the entire company had been working toward for years came Oct. 26, when Microsoft launched Windows 8 and Windows RT (the version of Windows 8 designed to run on ARM-based chips — primarily mobile devices).

Reports have been mixed on how successful they've been so far.

Microsoft said 40 million Windows 8 licenses were sold in its first month, outpacing Windows 7 in upgrades.

While that seems to be a good start, given how much the company spent on marketing, 40 million is “modest at best,” said David Johnson, an analyst at Forrester Research.

Forrester found that interest in Windows 8 among large businesses was higher than expected.

Among consumers, Forrester found that buyers were reporting confusion with Windows 8 and problems with applications not working correctly, though once they got past the initial learning curve, many using Windows 8 on touch-screen devices seem to like it.

SURFACE LAUNCH: Microsoft built much buzz for the late-October launch of Surface, the company's first branded computing device.

But the buzz didn't necessarily translate into big sales or exclusively glowing reviews. In fact, the reviews were mixed, with most praising the hardware but, ironically, dinging the software.

Microsoft has not released sales figures for Surface, which initially had been sold just in Microsoft retail stores and online.

The company has since pushed up its schedule to produce more Surface units, selling them now at big-box retailers such as Staples and Best Buy.

WINDOWS PHONE 8 LAUNCH: Microsoft launched the latest version of its 2-year-old smartphone platform at an October event designed to showcase how its tiled design and features can make it a very personalized device.

It's too soon to say, though, whether Windows Phone 8 will finally allow Microsoft to significantly increase its smartphone market share from about 3 percent in the U.S. and 2 percent worldwide.

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