Microsoft to reportedly target iPad with cheaper Surface tablets

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 50
    Anachr0nAnachr0n Posts: 37member
    entropys said:
    IT departments would demand users use a surface tablet instead of an iPad. That the hardware isn’t as good, the battery life poorer, any other deficiency would not matter. It would be a golden opportunity to get rid of iPads.  It’s MS all the way baby.

    They hates Apple users.
    Working in a big organization, I have to admit that you’re probably right. If it’s running a regular Windows OS and they can manage it like any other desktop or laptop, that’s just easier for them. Regardless of its usability. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 42 of 50
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    rob53 said:
    I understand the need/desire to discuss non-Apple products but this website is called AppleInsider not “let’s talk about everyone else’s product.” I only use Windows products when I’m helping a friend fix their dead computer. I really don’t care what Microsoft is doing to try and stay relevant. 
    The thing is that Microsoft will directly target Apple in their advertising campaign. They already do that with the Surface and 'I can't do that on a Mac'.
    They'll come up with a series of adverts that are flashy and in their eyes cool but not show anything that the users would do but they'll be successful.
    They will probably highlight the weaknesses of the iPad and go for the jugular.
    This affects all of us who use Apple kit.
    I wish people actually looked at advertising and were able to make an intelligent decision about things but my own family hasn't even turned on TouchID or used Apple Pay and I bet there are many others with the same issues. I honestly don't think these ads actually cause very many people to change platforms. Most changes are effected by a friend telling a friend they like something, in other words peer pressure. Advertising companies like to think they effect change but I think most people tune them out.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 43 of 50
    brucemcbrucemc Posts: 1,541member
    A few things to keep in mind:

    1) The Surface line has been mostly targeted at the laptop user in recent years.  Very little is targeted at the tablet use cases.  The new Surface models to date have been traditional computers.  It is not clear at all that a market for Windows on a tablet, for pure tablet use cases, is of any potential size.

    2) Who has been purchasing Surface units?  Any stats?  Techie Windows fans (how many is that) + businesses mostly is what I suspect?  You rarely see/hear of them for tablet uses as used by consumers.  I don't know anyone that owns a Surface myself.

    3) Surface units sold are not as large as revenue would make one think.  Of the $1.3B in revenue MS reported for the holiday quarter, that is likely less than 1M units as the ASP is high with the Surface line.  IDC estimated that MS sold ~750K "detachables" in that timeframe.  Vs. 13.2M iPads.

    In short, I don't think this will provide much competition to Apple.  Might affect a few % of sales, but that is about it.
    thtwatto_cobra
  • Reply 44 of 50
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    macxpress said:
    MacPro said:
    I wonder what are MS actually selling here in their own minds, Windows 10 Pro or a cheap computer?
    Yeah I thought the Surface Line was supposed to compete in the upper tier market to compete with Apple? Now all of a sudden they're in a race to the bottom? I also thought the Surface like was supposed to compete with the Mac, not the iPad? If recall, all. if not most of their ads reference a Mac, not necessarily an iPad. Maybe I haven't seen recent ones and things have changed. I don't watch a lot of TV so I'm not totally up to date with current things like that. 

    I really can't see how their going to get the price of the Surface any lower without sacrificing quality. Even at their current price points, they still aren't known for their quality. 
    Any cheaper you could buy one, Keep Windows 10 Pro and throw away the junk ... /kidding

    admission: I actually quite like Windows 10 Pro / smacks back of head
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 45 of 50
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,311member
    KITA said:
    KITA said:
    Who is the Surface for other than hipsters that read The Verge? If Surface was an Apple product it would be considered a failure.  Heck the tech press considers iPad a failure yet it does 9x the revenue of Surface. This product is hyped way more than it deserves to be.
    Only ~3.7x the revenue in the last quarter.

    Surface - 1.1 billion
    iPad - 4.1 billion


    Oops I pulled units instead of revenue. Of course we’d have to pull a combination of iPad and Mac revenue to compare to Surface. Anyway there has not been a huge increase in Surface revenue (from $900M to $1.3B in 4 years) even though Microsoft introduced higher priced products into the lineup. Seems to me the product gets way too much hype/attention and if it was an Apple product it would be considered a flop.
    Surface revenue Q4 2013 (Q2 2014) - $0.9 billion
    Surface revenue Q4 2017 (Q2 2018) - $1.3 billion

    Mac + iPad revenue Q4 2013 (Q1 2014) - $17.8 billion
    Mac + iPad revenue Q4 2017 (Q1 2018) - $12.7 billion  

    I don't know what your point regarding the revenue is.

    The attention comes from the fact they're making quality devices that often do some new and useful things.
    MS Surface products aren't actually of the same high quality as Apple's devices.

    There are plenty of stories to this effect, but here is a link;

    http://observer.com/2017/08/consumer-reports-microsoft-surface-quality-control-apple-win/

    This statement by the writer of the above is a bit odd, but I'll quote it:

    "While the iPad Pro or the MacBook series hasn’t come close to Microsoft’s innovation in the past five years, you can always count on Apple products to work almost perfectly. Microsoft may have beat Apple to the market with a stylus, but you won’t find any pen jitter with the Apple Pencil—the Cupertino company was wise to delay the Pencil to consumers until it had perfected the technology."

    So, the writer's idea of innovation is getting some new feature to the market, flawed or no. That pretty much covers the entire history of Surface.
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 46 of 50
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,334member
    You can roughly emulate what a 10" Surface device would be like by running Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Client (or to a lesser degree ReaVNC) on a 9.7" or 10.5’ iPad. The vast majority of Windows apps essentially require a keyboard and mouse/trackpad. No doubt Microsoft would make a keyboard cover and pointing device for the cheap Surface for an additional cost. At that point the cheap Surface is really competing against cheap Windows notebooks from Acer et al, and not true tablets like the iPad. Someone will buy them, but not me.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 47 of 50
    crossladcrosslad Posts: 527member
    KITA said:
    supadav03 said:
    So they are basically making Surface RT again? Cool...
    The Surface RT ran Windows RT, had a 16:9 aspect ratio, used an ARM processor and no pen.

    This runs Windows 10 Pro, has a 3:2 aspect ratio, uses an Intel processor and can use a pen.

    They're essentially making a successor to the Surface 3.
    Microsoft killed the Surface 3, I can't understand why they want to go back to it now.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 48 of 50
    danvmdanvm Posts: 1,400member
    Anachr0n said:
    entropys said:
    IT departments would demand users use a surface tablet instead of an iPad. That the hardware isn’t as good, the battery life poorer, any other deficiency would not matter. It would be a golden opportunity to get rid of iPads.  It’s MS all the way baby.

    They hates Apple users.
    Working in a big organization, I have to admit that you’re probably right. If it’s running a regular Windows OS and they can manage it like any other desktop or laptop, that’s just easier for them. Regardless of its usability. 

    I wouldn't say that IT people hate Apple users.  You have to consider that Apple never had tools to deploy and manage macOS in large business.  Now you are seeing companies like Jamf doing what Apple should have done years ago.  Compare that to MS tools, where you can manage Windows PC's, macOS devices, servers, databases, VM, iOS and Android devices, among others.  The Apple ecosystem in the enterprise is miles behind what MS offers.  Maybe we should blame Apple and not the IT managers.  

    BTW, I suppose there are some IT people who doesn't like Apple, but to think that all of them are the same is non sense.
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 49 of 50
    danvmdanvm Posts: 1,400member
    tmay said:
    KITA said:
    KITA said:
    Who is the Surface for other than hipsters that read The Verge? If Surface was an Apple product it would be considered a failure.  Heck the tech press considers iPad a failure yet it does 9x the revenue of Surface. This product is hyped way more than it deserves to be.
    Only ~3.7x the revenue in the last quarter.

    Surface - 1.1 billion
    iPad - 4.1 billion


    Oops I pulled units instead of revenue. Of course we’d have to pull a combination of iPad and Mac revenue to compare to Surface. Anyway there has not been a huge increase in Surface revenue (from $900M to $1.3B in 4 years) even though Microsoft introduced higher priced products into the lineup. Seems to me the product gets way too much hype/attention and if it was an Apple product it would be considered a flop.
    Surface revenue Q4 2013 (Q2 2014) - $0.9 billion
    Surface revenue Q4 2017 (Q2 2018) - $1.3 billion

    Mac + iPad revenue Q4 2013 (Q1 2014) - $17.8 billion
    Mac + iPad revenue Q4 2017 (Q1 2018) - $12.7 billion  

    I don't know what your point regarding the revenue is.

    The attention comes from the fact they're making quality devices that often do some new and useful things.
    MS Surface products aren't actually of the same high quality as Apple's devices.

    There are plenty of stories to this effect, but here is a link;

    http://observer.com/2017/08/consumer-reports-microsoft-surface-quality-control-apple-win/

    The Consumers Reports survey included devices from 2014 - 2017.  That means it could include the Surface Pro 2 and later.  There were reports of issues with the SP4 that were solved after a few months (I personally experience them), but it looks like the 2017 models are far more stable.  Even with the issues, the SP4 customer satisfaction was higher than iPad's, so it looks that MS did something right.  

    This statement by the writer of the above is a bit odd, but I'll quote it:

    "While the iPad Pro or the MacBook series hasn’t come close to Microsoft’s innovation in the past five years, you can always count on Apple products to work almost perfectly. Microsoft may have beat Apple to the market with a stylus, but you won’t find any pen jitter with the Apple Pencil—the Cupertino company was wise to delay the Pencil to consumers until it had perfected the technology."

    So, the writer's idea of innovation is getting some new feature to the market, flawed or no. That pretty much covers the entire history of Surface.

    I suppose the same applies to Apple and the butterfly keyboard.  Getting a new feature to the market, flawed or not.  That pretty much covers the entire history of 2015-2017 Macbook / Macbook Pro. 


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