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Microsoft Takes Another Stab At Tablets, Unveils Surface 2, Surface 2 Pro
Dputiger writes "Microsoft has unveiled both the Surface 2 and Surface 2 Pro, updating the former with a Tegra 4 processor and the latter with a new Haswell chip. Among the additional improvements are a more comfortable kickstand with two height settings, 1080p displays for both devices, USB 3.0 support, better battery life, and a higher resolution camera. Pricing for the 32GB Surface without a Touch or Type Cover is set at $449."
The main thing that both Android and Apple based tablets have that Microsoft doesn't, is customers.
Solving Unix problems since 1989...
People don't want Microsoft on their tablet. They've lost this war. Ironically, they're losing for the same reason IBM lost control of the PC: They can make all the products they want, but the software that people want runs on an OS owned by someone else.
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Microsoft, in late 2013 just came out with 2 tablets that don't offer LTE? Oh right next year they say. Smart business move.
The people with the money to burn on these devices and a wireless plan to go along with them just want to pay once and then have connectivity everywhere without thinking. Definitely a short-sighted move IMHO.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
I was thinking "Epic fail 2, and Epic fail 2 pro".
It is the price. They are still trying to sell at Apple prices, but MS is not, and has never been Apple. If they had released a tablet at around $300 they might have had a shot. There is a bit of a price gap at around $300.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
They're still missing the point, so my bet is that it'll collect just as much dust as the old one.
What MS is selling is basically an ultrabook with a touchscreen, not a tablet. They're still not getting that a tablet is an entirely different device with different needs and usage cases.
MS has never been user-aware, always developer-focussed. I'm so happy it's finally biting them in the ass.
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Yeah, but it is making them lots of money instead of losing lots of money.
I was thinking "Epic fail 2, and Epic fail 2 pro". It is the price. They are still trying to sell at Apple prices, but MS is not, and has never been Apple. If they had released a tablet at around $300 they might have had a shot. There is a bit of a price gap at around $300.
This. Microsoft needs to compete with Android tablets, not Apple. Microsoft needs a $199 tablet to compete with $199 Android tablets. Surface RT is still overpriced at $349. You're a software company, stop trying to make profit on hardware! Sell the hardware cheap and make the money from sales through the app store! You make the Xbox, haven't you learned anything from how console sales work yet? Or are you purposely pricing yourself far above market so you can lose money? Because that's exactly what this looks like, like you're not even trying.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
MS could have just released both tablets as x86 ones, and they would have been decent replacements for primary PCs, especially if the tablets have a decent GPU/chipset.
The Surface 2 is OK, but it has to fight against well-entrenched players.
However, the Surface Pro 2 looks interesting as a primary computer, especially the one with 512GB of flash and 8GB of RAM. It won't win any benchmarks, but with the dock, it could be a decent desktop replacement, especially with USB 3.0 ports. In fact, it might have a long useful life, because it could run Windows Server 2012, Linux, or an OS of choice, and be easily tossed onto the top of a closet to act as a file or web server when it becomes too slow for mainstream software.
Compared to Surface Pro, yes, but if the regular Surface is still running RT, it's more of a toy than the iPad.
No, it doesn't. It counts the number of visitors of a particular web site that have content strings that claim they are using an iPad.
And I already used all my mod points...Where's that +1 Insightful when I need it...
"Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
And unless those devices were stolen, they are actual purchased devices. More accurate than IDC shipments.
While you and me might do that, how many users know what a user agent is, much less delve into third party browser settings to change it? There can't be enough people to mess up the numbers.
Why is this marked insightful? Are even 1% of users spoofing their user agent string? Are 0.01%?
It's just sad at this point, watching them hemorrhage money in every hardware space except their video game console division, and even that seems successful DESPITE their mismanagement, not for any brilliant strategy. They need to refocus on their core competencies and give up chasing every market that's just not in their DNA. Give up phones. Give up tablets. Make a solid enterprise and corporate OS/Office Suite. Windows 7 is a great OS that deserves a proper successor without an abhorrent touch interface grafted onto it.
Their customers are screaming at them to sell them what they want but MS is refusing to make those products. The problem is there's a lot more competition these days. MS isn't the only game in town anymore and they can't afford to ignore their customers--which are the OEMs and enterprise.
If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
> No, it doesn't. It counts the number of visitors of a
> particular web site that have content strings that
> claim they are using an iPad.
Yes! I'm sure TONS of people are using Android tablets or Surfaces but changing their user agents to make it look like they're using iPads. Because then it will look like iPads are more popular and then... sorry, I couldn't think of a single reason that anyone would do that. Someone who loves Apple but is forced to use a competing tablet by their employer? Seriously, I got nothing. Get a better version of a page? If anything, you change your UA to say "something on Desktop", not "something on iPad".
Even if some people are doing it, I can't imagine it's enough to throw off the numbers. "Number of people setting non-iPads to send 'iPad' in their user agent string" divided by "about 90 million" equals a very, very small number.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Why is this marked insightful? Are even 1% of users spoofing their user agent string? Are 0.01%?
No, but it made the poster feel better about his personal biases.
#DeleteChrome
Two words: no apps.
The problem is if they cede the home/consumer market, the average non-IT staff member will become familiar with something else from their personal use. Now as an IT manager or CIO, you can decide to either gravitate toward what's more mainstream (assuming software vendors fill in the necessities, which is typical), or increase training spending to keep end users on the legacy platform nobody uses at home anymore. You can't make that kind of organizational switch overnight, but eventually the IT staff will also migrate toward the new popular platform, and then staff expenses will go up (I'm often tempted to learn Cobol to soak up maintenance programming contracts). It's just not feasible to turn your back on mainstream consumers and expect to maintain growth in enterprise when talking about these kind of horizontal markets.
On spec, maybe it is less of a toy ... and unfortunately, that's what people buy tablets for. Toys.
Is the tablet market grumbling and saying "gee, what we really want is something we can create a spreadsheet on"? Me, I think not and Microsoft may be missing on getting the market as, once again, the "I'm a PC" guys are talking about business uses and not entertainment.
My tablet isn't what I do my work on, it's what I take travelling with me, surf the web, find restaurants, play some stupid games, send a few emails. I didn't buy it to do 'work' on, I bought it to play with, and to use it to look up stuff in the living room or amuse myself on a plane and give me connectivity without dragging my laptop.
If what you're looking for is a small business machine, what you describe sounds pretty cool. But my tablet is more of an e-reader, video game, web surfing, play music and movies kinda thing.
So I wonder if Microsoft is doing what they've always done, and envisioned a world where what people most want to have Office and Outlook -- when what people really want is anything but Office and Outlook. They want an oversized MP3 player that can play games and surf the web and watch videos on Facebook.
They don't need to complete the TPS reports by Thursday.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
How exactly is 100k apps = no apps?