Not everything is going Microsoft's way this year, but the company might feel a little better after learning that its Surface tablets outsold the Google Nexus 10. This could mean there is a future for Windows 8 in the tablet market yet, although it's still early.

According to Benedict Evans on his blog, over 680,000 Google Nexus 10 tablets have sold since launch. Bear in mind, this information is not official and he could be well off the mark, so take it with a grain of salt until there may be an official announcement by Google.

But let's compare those numbers to the alleged 1.5 million Surface Pro and Surface RT devices sold since 2012. This particular number came from Bloomberg, among many other analysts, so there could be some truth behind this, since it came from several sources.

While the numbers do come off as exciting, they fail in comparison to the 23 million Apple iPad fourth-generation tablets sold. Then again, both the Google Nexus 10 and the Surface tablets do not have the same popularity as the iPad.

Despite selling more tablet units than Google, not all is well for Microsoft; in fact, the company is basically still in the same position. It doesn't matter if the Surface outsells the Nexus 10, for Google isn't trying to make the device the next Apple iPad: it is purely a technology demonstrator. Microsoft, on the other hand, needs the Surface tablets to be successful to kick off Windows 8 adoption and to add another key revenue stream to its back end.

What Microsoft needs to do right now is hold onto this momentum and release another tablet device that possesses the things consumers want.