Microsoft and Others Mean Stiff Competition For Apple iPad Pro

MojoKid writes: When Microsoft first announced the Surface Pro back in 2012, many Apple fans snickered. Here was Microsoft, releasing a somewhat thick and heavy tablet that not only had a kickstand, but also an odd cover that doubled as a keyboard. And to top things off, the device made use of a stylus. Steve Jobs famously said in 2010, "If you see a stylus, they blew it." But Microsoft forged ahead with the Surface Pro 2, and later with the Surface Pro 3. Not only were customers becoming more aware of the Surface but competitors were also taking note. We've seen Lenovo introduce the ideapad MIIX 700, which incorporates its own kickstand and an Intel Skylake-based Core m7 processor. And most recently, we've seen Apple pull a literal 180 on this design and platform approach, announcing the iPad Pro — a device that features a fabric keyboard cover similar in concept to the Surface Pro and a stylus. Dell and ASUS have also brought compelling offerings to the table as well. However, the big head-to-head competition will no doubt be between the Surface Pro 4, which is set to be unveiled early next month and Apple's iPad Pro when it finally goes on sale.

Comments

It's not the size

[MikeMo]

It's the software and OS it runs that matters.

Re:It's not the size

[SuperKendall]

Touch is really different than mouse input. Sure it's possible to control a mouse UI by touch through something like VNC, but it's obviously non-optimal and not something you'd want to do all the time. Touch obscures where you are "pointing". Touch means you can't really hover well (well, at least before 3D touch). Touch means instant teleportation of the pointer to an element on a screen instead of a traversal which can be monitored...

The models of interaction are just different enough you really can't combine them well.

Re:Apple doesn't get it

[NatasRevol]

That's why they've asked IBM to help.

http://www.apple.com/business/...

And they've helped a lot.

http://www.ibm.com/mobilefirst...

The Surface is a laptop, the iPad Pro is not

[SuperKendall]

The Surface competes far more against the Macbook than it does against the iPad Pro.

The iPad Pro is all about touch input (still), while the Surface treats that as an extra.

Also the Stylus comment was about requiring the stylus for input - which the iPad Pro does not, you only get the stylus if you need finer-grained input than a touch can give you.

Re:Apple doesn't get it

[SuperKendall]

It's just so sad that making things simpler makes them more attractive

It's not sad at all, because done right it means more people get the benefit of complex features without having to be very technical.

Having as many people as possible making use of technology to improve their lives is an admirable goal.

Kind of means people who look for complex features had better make it themselves.

The great thing is they still can; nothing stops them from doing so. But there are ALSO the simpler choices. Before, all we had was complexity which benefitted comparatively few.