Microsoft Surface Tablet announced

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Kung Fu Jedi said:
Do you think Microsoft has sent Google scrambling in any way today? They seem to be the ones that have the most to lose from Surface.
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100%. Apple has the gadget/consumption market by the throat and the surface is going to dominate the enterprise market. That leaves Google as the Linux of mobile devices.

Or yeah, they could dominate the low end disposable device market as well. That exists, I suppose.
 
Gary Whitta said:
Looking forward to Google finally giving the Android tablet market the flagship model it's been sorely missing.

I think Fire 2 will move the needle much more than the first one did too.

Between those and Surface and whatever Apple has next I think 2013 will be the first really interesting year in tablets since the iPad debuted.
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you forgot the Xoom
 
Well they did the right thing design wise. It's a different product than the iPad and is not a copycat like most android devices. Magnet keyboard and kickstand is awesome, along with USB support and basic computer standards. OS looks designed for productivity.

Now they just need to execute. Not sure the point of announcing this early. No release date or pricing. Software still looks buggy. They are showing shades of classic microsoft here and that is bothersome.

But this product shows what is needed to compete. No one wants iPad wannabe. They want something that brings some new ideas and functionality to the table. Hopefully google realizes this when they announce whatever the hell they are gonna bring to the table
 
eznark said:
100%. Apple has the gadget/consumption market by the throat and the surface is going to dominate the enterprise market. That leaves Google as the Linux of mobile devices.

Or yeah, they could dominate the low end disposable device market as well. That exists, I suppose.
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I think Amazon will surpass Google and even MS in terms of market share on the tablet market is they go for a ridiculously good price point on the next fire.
 
liger05 said:
Why do people think google are going to look stupid?

If google announce a tegra 3 quadcore tablet retailing for $200 then those things will be flying off the shelves.
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Because there is very little they could show off with a tablet that isn't being done already.

I hoping the show a google tv widi dongle with their 7 in tablet combo.
 
trinest said:
The Zune nor any other major Microsoft device of late hasn't been available outside the US.

I'm hoping its available in Australia in some form, I really like the look of the device and wouldn't mind picking the Pro up.
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Even though it can be used as a traditional media player, I suspect Zune was only sold to locations that actually offered MS's services.




saltywalrus said:
I think this will be a niche usage case. Most people who work in offices are provided desktops, and their companies impose severe restrictions on what can be installed.

Some IT departments are becoming less strict and allowing people to bring their own iPads, but iPads are pretty locked down, and you don't need to worry about a stupid employee getting a virus. Windows 8 desktop is going to be less restricted than iPads.
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Actually many see this as the future paradigm for computing. Any business that utilizes laptops that employees can actually remove from the premises can go with this.

More importantly, it's a pretty obvious solution for home usage.




Kem0sabe said:
This will be remembered as one of MS´s biggest commercial fails. The device is simply too expensive to be appealing to non enterprise markets.
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* looks at iPad sales ... looks at Ultrabook/Mac Air sales ... *


huh?




saltywalrus said:
I think it fails to check a pretty major box. Using it in your lap. I don't think the kickstand will work very well on anything over than a flat surface.

Also you won't be able to adjust the tilt of the screen.
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I too have reservations regarding how well a 'soft hinge' and kickstand will work on a lap. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Regarding tilt though, having thought about it a bit I don't think it will be an issue for most people? When using a laptop, typically the only reason I'm adjusting is to get into the sweet spot of the display. This device has really good viewing angles though.





Hix said:
Oh ok.
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Just to note, that pricing speculation is based on what MS said ... not just random musing.

They claimed RT will be competitive with similar ARM offerings ... and that the Pro will be competitive with Ultrabooks.





mrklaw said:
if the pro version is 'full HD', thats presumably 1920x1080. But its higher res than the RT, so the RT won't be retina - any guesses as to the likely resolution?
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Full HD does mean 1080p.

RT is assumed to be 1366 x 768 as that is the minimum resolution for a Windows RT device to pass MS HW requirements for certification.





Randdalf said:
"Experts" on the Guardian are speculating that they're targeting the professional and enterprise market with this tablet, as opposed to the iPad.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jun/19/microsoft-surface-windows-8-tablets
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I think you're reading a bit more into, Milanesi said the Surface might appeal to business users already used to Microsoft software, an area where Apple has been making inroads with iPads and iPhones. "It is certainly a very competitive product in that space," she said., than they meant.

But assuming that was their intent, it's pretty silly. Windows 8 / RT / WP8 are all inherently supportive of enterprise solutions. That's simply in MS's DNA.

To assume it's only targeting enterprise however is wack. That's like arguing essentially any PC is doing that. The only argument I can see would be for the Pro model since it uses Windows 8 Pro ... but that's still not unusual for home users anyway.
 
so this is a tablet that runs the next microsoft operating system? :0

was getting an ipad 3 next month, but this is what i really need.

"fuck yo apps, i got software programs bitch."
 
I like the idea of a full Windows OS so I can have easy cross-compatibility with desktops and support for legacy applications, but I'm hesitant when it comes to the battery life and other things that people have mentioned.

I'd have to see the RT and Pro tablet in person, but there just won't be anywhere to do that (which is one of Apple's strengths).
 
Yeah, the Fire is not going to eat anything. They were selling on a loss, and shipments have fallen off dramatically in the past few months.

They were thriving off a lack of brand name competition. If Google pushes a halo device at the same price point, Amazon will find it a lot harder to compete.
 
Talon- said:
Yeah, the Fire is not going to eat anything. They were selling on a loss, and shipments have fallen off dramatically in the past few months.

They were thriving off a lack of brand name competition. If Google pushes a halo device at the same price point, Amazon will find it a lot harder to compete.
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I agree. Also I think a lot of people were turned off by the fire once they got a chance to play around with other tabbies and saw just how limited the Fire really is. Amzon may have a hard time "biting" people again in that regard.
 
Amazon is approaching this differently. Assuming iPad is the center, MS is trying to take the high-end. iPad can't compete with this on specs but MS will have to get their price down. Amazon is taking the low end, iPad can't compete on price but Amazon will have to get their specs up.

The question is what does Google have and how will it be relevant?
 
Talon- said:
Yeah, the Fire is not going to eat anything. They were selling on a loss, and shipments have fallen off dramatically in the past few months.

They were thriving off a lack of brand name competition. If Google pushes a halo device at the same price point, Amazon will find it a lot harder to compete.
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Not if they just release a new Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, they won't. The market has shown that just because a competing tablet exists doesn't mean it's worth their time.

Read: ASUS Transformer, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola XOOM, Blackberry Playbook, HP Touchpad

People want a compelling reason to buy these devices and just "it's a tablet that runs Android" clearly isn't what the market wants. "It's a tablet!" isn't enough.

Amazon's tablet at least is "it's a tablet that's tightly integrated and cureated with the Amazon ecosystem" and people responded. Same type of deal for the Nook.

Whatever the next Android tablet is that gets traction, it's not going to be because it's a new tablet that runs Android...it's going to be something they've done to the software to make it a compelling product.

The ASUS Transformer should be the biggest indicator of that. That thing is a great idea/execution...but the market doesn't care. It's still just another Android tab to consumers.
 
I've yet to see proof that tablet purchasing decisions are made on specs. The screen, the application ecosystem, and the media ecosystem have driven that field.

Hell, even with laptops, how many consumers are actually comparing based on memory and clock speed? It's battery life and size that drives purchases.
RubxQub said:
Amazon's tablet at least is "it's a tablet that's tightly integrated and cureated with the Amazon ecosystem" and people responded. Same type of deal for the Nook.

Whatever the next Android tablet is that gets traction, it's not going to be because it's a new tablet that runs Android...it's going to be something they've done to the software to make it a compelling product.

The ASUS Transformer should be the biggest indicator of that. That thing is a great idea/execution...but the market doesn't care. It's still just another Android tab to consumers.
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I'd say this would hold true if we didn't know that Fire shipments have fallen off a cliff. It seems like a flash in the pan at this point.

I don't think iPad competition Android tablets are going to sell well. There's no compelling reason for consumers to make that decision if they can afford to buy a tablet. Note that I didn't say that Google's device would sell well; I just said it would bite into the Fire's market.
 
For me, having the keyboard is critical. I'm going to be in the market for a new laptop around Mayish next year. Not sure if this will be out but if so, Day 1.
 
Amazon will get the Fire down to a disposable price soon enough and it will become a stocking stuffer. The only thing it is going to kill is the traditional e-reader.
 
RubxQub said:
Not if they just release a new Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, they won't. The market has shown that just because a competing tablet exists doesn't mean it's worth their time.

Read: ASUS Transformer, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola XOOM, Blackberry Playbook, HP Touchpad

People want a compelling reason to buy these devices and just "it's a tablet that runs Android" clearly isn't what the market wants.

Amazon's tablet at least is "it's a tablet that's tightly integrated and cureated with the Amazon ecosystem" and people responded. Same type of deal for the Nook.

Whatever the next Android tablet is that gets traction, it's not going to be because it's a new tablet that runs Android...it's going to be something they've done to the software to make it a compelling product.

The ASUS Transformer should be the biggest indicator of that. That thing is a great idea/execution...but the market doesn't care. It's still just another Android tab to consumers.
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all that being said, with a full fledge mainstream OS, you can replace an average laptop and your tablet altogether. No need for hacking or rooting and other shit that makes tablets interesting. This thing launches with student word, which is a sell for me...I'm so buying this if its priced below $700 dollars.

Hoo-doo said:
No it doesn't.
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connected with the keyboard it does....looks really macbook like.
 
Talon- said:
I've yet to see proof that tablet purchasing decisions are made on specs. The screen, the application ecosystem, and the media ecosystem have driven that field.
Click to expand...

Hell, even with laptops, how many consumers are actually comparing based on memory and clock speed? It's battery life and size that drives purchases.

I'd say this would hold true if we didn't know that Fire shipments have fallen off a cliff. It seems like a flash in the pan at this point.

I don't think iPad competition Android tablets are going to sell well. There's no compelling reason for consumers to make that decision if they can afford to buy a tablet. Note that I didn't say that Google's device would sell well; I just said it would bite into the Fire's market.
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Shipments are not sales, seems like a pretty simple concept to grasp, but it’s apparent from the hysteria that has erupted over IDC’s release of their Q1 tablet shipment data that most of the blogosphere still doesn’t get the difference. We detailed this phenomenon two years ago and still no one can get it right, so I will say it again shipments are not sales - and therefore they present only a partial account of the success or failure of a product or an item. Shipments are important and course NPD recognizes this by providing supply side shipment data through NPD DisplaySearch but without sales you just have inventory, and that does no one any good.

This current firestorm around the Kindle Fire numbers is a perfect example of how mistaking shipments for sales leads the market to incorrect and faulty conclusions about trends and opportunities. In this case my friends at IDC reported that the Fire shipped 750k units in Q1 2012 following the introduction of the Fire in Q4 2011 when 4.8 million units shipped. (NPD DisplaySearch reported 5 million shipped in Q4.) That’s a total of 5.5 million shipments over the first two quarters of its product life (please remember that number). While it may appear that sales for the Fire fell off a cliff in Q1 that would only be the case if shipments actually equaled sales. And since they don’t, any analysis that might indicate the Fire is losing ground is fundamentally flawed, especially since the Fire is only through two quarters of its life.

In the Kindle Fire’s first quarter of availability IDC’s reported shipments of 4.8m most certainly included the normal inventory build-up a new item requires. The Fire was distributed in something around 10 thousand stores in the U.S. at launch and certainly Amazon’s warehouses needed some inventory too. Let’s not forget it was the fourth quarter when sales tend to rise dramatically. So Amazon, rightly, built a lot of Kindle Fires and shipped them out to its warehouses and its retail partners to take advantage of fourth quarter volume. Logically there will be inventory remaining and shipment volumes will decline in the following quarter as the inventory to support Q1 sales is partially satisfied by the remaining inventory from Q4. And of course that is exactly what IDC’s numbers show; a seasonal change in volume and a sell-down of inventory accumulated in the fourth quarter. These numbers don’t measure sales volume of the Kindle Fire in the first quarter, rather they measure the small amount of inventory buildup Amazon needed to do in Q1 to replenish inventories.

So how did the Kindle Fire do in the first quarter of 2012, pretty darn well thank you very much. According to NPD’s Consumer Tracking Service the Kindle actually sold (there is that word again, this time properly used) 1.8m units in the first quarter. That is an actual consumer bought it and took it home (or had it delivered) and paid their own real money. It was not a sale from Amazon to a retailer for their inventory to support sales, nor was it Amazon replenishing the warehouse stock it controls for its own sales; it was a consumer spending their money to acquire the product. Looking back in Q4 2011 NPD’s Consumer Tracking Service counted 3.8m Kindles sold during the holiday period. And if you add up those two sales figures you get a number almost exactly the same as IDC’s shipment number that we referenced earlier. And looking at the numbers from that actual sales perspective the concept that Kindle Fire sales collapsed in Q1 becomes absurd.

No matter how we frame it, or how others may spin it, the Kindle Fire had a pretty good second quarter of sales results. And as important as shipment tracking is, it is an incomplete number without the power of actual sales behind it. And of course we at NPD know something about that. [/QUOTE]

Interesting read about the supposed Fire sale debacle.
 
I don't understand why Microsoft couldn't have waited a bit longer until they had at least a price and a release date to announce.

Not only does Apple do great presentations, but at the end you know everything about the product and it's usually either available today, or within a few weeks. Surface looks cool but I go to the website and all I see is some overproduced mockup video and some pictures of what look like a screen cover that is also a keyboard.

This presentation could've waited until the fall, at the earliest.
 
Hoo-doo said:
No it doesn't.
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microsoft-surface-tablet-front.jpg

new-apple-macbook-pro-13.3-inch-dual-core-i5-laptop-mc700b-a-53-p.jpg


Very similiar. Prefer the MBP design though.
 
ari said:
all that being said, with a full fledge mainstream OS, you can replace a average laptop and your tablet altogether. No need for hacking or rooting and other shit that makes tablets interesting. This thing launches with word and other stuff...I'm so buying this if its priced below $700 dollars.
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That's what we'll have to see. Are consumers going to buy-in to the idea of owning a device that's trying to be equal parts tablet and ultrabook, but not committing to either...but offering the capabilities of both?

I'm not at all discounting the fact that a lot of consumers are going to really like that this will run a full version of Windows on it in an attractive looking package. I'm just not totally convinced that it's going to be priced to sell or that consumers are going to just "get" why they want one. "It's a tablet running Windows!" is probably going to push people onto the cheaper model that is just running Metro, and people won't get why that's not the same as the Pro model.

If they just released the Pro, I think they have a much more compelling product here. They're muddying up the waters with W8 RT and W8...what the Pro can do and what the Vanilla can do....

Just not sure right now.

I want it to succeed if for no other reason than to have MS be relevant in the "post-PC" world (if you believe that's a thing...I personally do). I want a 3rd OS in the mix to keep things fresh...just not sure if the market can support 3 OSs vs. 2. The good news for MS is that in tablets...there really is only 1 player at the moment as Android hasn't made any kind of a major grab yet.
 
When is the Fire 2 coming out? I hope they put in a memory card slot this time, I haven't bought the original because the storage space was a joke and it wasn't expandable.
 
This seems like microsofts wakeup call to the pc hardware manufacturers out there..


Guys.. stop making your plastic garbage with no design thought. Youre ruining our software business!
 
ari said:
was getting an ipad 3 next month, but this is what i really need.
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This is the key.... more so for the pro but even winRT should be competent enough for most people in terms of what they "need" out of a laptop/tablet. It is odd that these devices are the ones that made people realize that fact with all the other win8 hardware shown at computex but I am like most others.... these devices are the ones to buy without question.

With tablets right now you have to do all these weird things to get them to sorta work like laptops and laptops don't have all the tablet/touchscreen stuff. These devices will kind of give you both.
 
dem said:
This seems like microsofts wakeup call to the pc hardware manufacturers out there..


Guys.. stop making your plastic garbage with no design thought. Youre ruining our software business!
Click to expand...

I think they are just at a point where there isn't much to be gained by only providing the software, since people no longer need to upgrade machines every couple years (I have a 27" iMac from late 2009 and really see no reason to upgrade anytime in the next 5 years for what I use it for). So why not get into the hardware game and make that profit as well?
 
I think it's all very interesting in that this is probably the biggest shift toward being more like Apple that MS has ever made, primarily by embracing the integrated hardware-software solution. Taking that holistic approach is always what has put Apple ahead, so it's going to be very interesting to see MS follow suit. I think I'm right in saying that this is the first time that Microsoft has designed and built and marketed a complete PC under its own brand name, right? That is a huge, seismic change.
 
liger05 said:
Why do people think google are going to look stupid?

If google announce a tegra 3 quadcore tablet retailing for $200 then those things will be flying off the shelves.
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will it have decent software? my xoom doesn't collect dust because I need a retina screen or a better gpu (although the inability to play hd video doesnt help)
 
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