A Look At Competitors to the Surface and iPad

"Asus and other Microsoft OEM partners have also launched their own versions of Windows RT tablets that will compete with Microsoft's Surface. It's interesting to see the different design approaches being taken, some of which are similar to Android devices currently on the market. The Asus Vivo Tab RT, for example, is based on a 1.3GHz Tegra 3 SoC with 2GB of DDR3 memory, 32GB or 64GB of on board Flash storage, and looks a lot like their Transformer Prime 10-inch slate. The internal electronics are similar to Surface, with NVIDIA's Tegra 3 claiming the lion's share of Windows RT designs at launch. Microsoft's new touch-centric OS handles smoothly on the tablet and performance looks to be impressive, especially with respect to multitasking and application switching." There's also the newly-launched Samsung Galaxy Note II (Android-based, and a so called "phablet," rather than a tablet), the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga (an upcoming Windows RT tablet with a keyboard permanently attached), and the Archos 101 XS.

Comments

Re:what does RT do that the ipad doesn't?

[alen]

because if im going to spend $500 or more do i buy the product that has sold 100 million units and has lots of software and developer support? or do i buy the new one that doesn't seem to have a feature to make it better, has almost no developer support and may be killed off in a few months like the HP tablet

It's all about.

[mk1004]

Does anyone really believe that the Surface will end up with any reasonable market share of the tablet market?

Re:It's all about.

[tgd]

Does anyone really believe that the Surface will end up with any reasonable market share of the tablet market?

That's not really the interesting question. The question is, will Windows 8 modern apps, Windows 8 RT and Windows Phone 8 end up with a reasonable share of the market? Because the combination is what will determine the ecosystem size.

Windows 8 will likely, at some point, end up on 300-500 million PCs, like Windows 7. Windows 8 tablets? Who knows. RT tablets? Really who knows. And as much as I like WP, that's an even longer shot. But if a developer says "I can write my software one, against the WinRT APIs, and it'll run on 300 million PCs, 50 million tablets, and some number of phones", it doesn't really matter if Microsoft sells 5 million or 25 million Surface tablets. Especially when people realize "hey, that application I bought runs on all of these... and my settings and data is on all of my devices...".

There's more to an ecosystem than a single device.

Re:what does RT do that the ipad doesn't?

[Anonymous Coward]

You didn't answer the question. He asked why there has to be one platform. You answered why you would prefer one platform over another. Good for your karma, poor for discussion.

And as it stands, there are already two popular platforms that meet those criteria. A third isn't going to hurt anything, if it even catches on.

Re:what does RT do that the ipad doesn't?

[feranick]

Maybe. But again: consider the current user base of iPads (and iThings in general). It would be quite idiotic to neglect those users of the benefits of Office to push their own platform, which has a 0.something market share. A full featured Office for iOS would allow MS to make millions and to keep those iThings aligned and connected with the rest of the MS infrastructure.

Re:what does RT do that the ipad doesn't?

[Jeng]

There needs to be one device that does everything I want.

Why? Because I want it that way, I don't want to buy this one device for one feature and another device for another feature, that would be idiotic.

There doesn't need to be a brand that does it all, and there doesn't have to be just one device that does everything I want. There can be many devices from many brands that do everything I want.

It's the software, stupid.

[silverhalide]

Nobody cares about tablet specs outside of screen size, battery life, and price. It's all about the software. Is it fast, responsive, and usable?

Is it easy to develop for? Will it be around for a while to justify developers investing in it? Does the company have a history of keeping platforms around?

Re:It's the software, stupid.

[blind biker]

Nobody cares about tablet specs outside of screen size, battery life, and price.

I hear that a lot, since yesterday, mostly from Apple fanbois. I'm not saying you're one of them, just that this "nobody cares about tablet specs" has become an awfully popular phrase as of very recently.

Re:Corrections

[Missing.Matter]

Only for media.

Which is more than can be said for iPad. Further, by media, what you really mean to correct me with is that application installs are only on the built in storage. You can put any file type on the surface, not just media, as the file system is open.

The iPad at this point has a greater range of peripheral support.

Of course excluding every mouse out there. But already with the built in USB port Windows RT has support for keyboards, mice, scanners, printers, USB memory, cameras, game controllers, external harddrives, external CD/DVD drives, etc.

Which non-technical users do not want.

The question was not "what does RT do that the ipad doesn't that only technical users care about." This is a big plus for someone like me and others similarly situated.

Which the iPad also does.

How? When I'm on my network, I can't connect directly to my iPad and pull files from my iPad, or when I'm on my iPad I can't copy files directly to my computer. I use Dropbox to transfer all my files and I'm not aware of an easier way.... any help would be most welcome.

The Surface Pro is not an iPad competitor. It is a Macbook Air competitor.

If I want a touch screen computer for a corporate environment, the Macbook Air will not be on the list due to its lack of a touch screen. The list will consist of products like the iPad and Galaxy tablets, and now the Surface Pro.

Re:what does RT do that the ipad doesn't?

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

Microsoft office?