Last week I briefly covered the Microsoft event that gave birth to their first ever full blown notebook called the 'Surface Book.' Not only is it a full blown notebook that's allegedly 2X more powerful than a MacBook Pro, it also allows the display to detach from the keyboard so that owners could use it as a lightweight Windows Surface tablet for casual use during down time at home or at the office. The Microsoft team mimicked Apple in every way during the event and, without a Jony Ive to lend a hand, still made it clear how they designed the new device from scratch, used magnesium for the body of the notebook, described how they created an all-new hinge and detachable mechanism in a manner like only Apple has been able to pull-off to date. Yes, the King of PC companies actually paid close attention to every detail and aspect down to its finish. Even the Verge's Nilay Patel, who is hard to win over, said after the event that the Surface Book is likely "the device of the year." He added, "I've never seen anything more high energy, " speaking of the buzz after the event.

Today, to add to last week's hype and high energy, Microsoft appears to have decided to carefully play the "sold out" marketing card to hype the success of their cool new device. MarketWatch's reporter Jennifer Booton writes today that "Five days later, the purchase button has been replaced by an 'email me when available' option, indicating all Surface Book versions, ranging from $1,499 to $2,099, are currently out of stock." Microsoft told Booton that "We've seen strong demand for Surface Book and have sold out of pre-order supply for October 26 availability."

Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research stated for the report that "It's always hard to know whether a device is sold out because of overwhelming demand or underwhelming supply. I suspect in this case it's the latter."

Booton later remarked that "Of course, being sold out isn't necessarily a bad thing. It tends to draw increased media attention, for one, a tactic drawn straight from Apple's playbook in earlier iPhone years." Booton referenced the iPhone 5s as an example.

This year Apple announced that they sold more than 13 million iPhone 6s's over the opening weekend. But Booton is correct in that Apple didn't provide a number for how many iPhone 5's were sold on its opening weekend. An Apple rep told AllThingsD that demand was incredible without specifics. So Apple has indeed played this card in the past themselves to drum up excitement.

So is Microsoft playing the 'sold out' marketing card to pump up all things Windows 10 or is there really hidden demand that has exploded? While only time will tell, I think they're playing it right on the line. I believe that they played it safe with in initial orders so that they could keep the rumor mill blind, but enough to hit the success button.

But we've also heard this kind of hype before from Samsung about new phones only to laugh at them later for creatively lying to the press. Samsung has now burnt that bridge for playing that card too many times that it's no longer valid.

Will the nose of Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella's grow during their financial conference call next week when it comes to the truth of Surface Book sales or will the numbers actually impress us for a first-to-market hybrid-notebook device from the company?

While that's a tough one to call, I think that they might decide to play yet another Apple tactic by saying that they don't break out such numbers and leave us all wondering what that means, like what Apple does when talking about the Apple Watch. Will the Surface Book be Microsoft's "hobby" product like the Apple TV is for Apple or will it end up being a genuine hit? That's the 64 million dollar question that unfortunately might take a little more time to determine.

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