Microsoft Prepares to Launch its Own iPad Rival

[Bosvaark]

Toshiba and a number of other OEM suppliers have all tried this with tablets and Windoze 7, poorer battery life, sluggish OS and touch screens and heavy, so let's see what occurs.

 

[Gerryboy]

I would think its a rumour

 

[seneca18]

Microsoft may have taken a trick out of Apple's playbook with the secretive type press conference but in my opinion they just failed this tablet announcement. What is great about when Apple has an event like this where they show us a new product is that the product becomes available soon after. They take advantage of the hype and media coverage. The "Surface" will not be available till the fall. By then many will forget and Apple will already be well on their way to developing the next iPad. I could be wrong but I am very curious to see this thing in person.

 

[this man]

From what I've read one of the central issues (if not THE issue) is how the OEM tablet makers are going to react to this. Microsoft will be in competition with their own clients. This will be a sticky situation I'm sure.

 

[this man]

The only way this makes sense to me is by putting two and two together. First I've read that Microsoft is likely to charge an exorbitant fee to the OEMS tablet makers for their tablet version of Windows. Next we see Microsoft announcing their own tablet.

I can see this is leading to a situation where only Microsoft will be selling Windows tablets. This reminds me of the time when Steve Jobs killed the Apple clone market.

 

[Kaykaykay]

Microsoft may have taken a trick out of Apple's playbook with the secretive type press conference but in my opinion they just failed this tablet announcement. What is great about when Apple has an event like this where they show us a new product is that the product becomes available soon after. They take advantage of the hype and media coverage. The "Surface" will not be available till the fall. By then many will forget and Apple will already be well on their way to developing the next iPad. I could be wrong but I am very curious to see this thing in person.

Depends on strategy and target market. Microsoft and other companies have sent up trial balloons before, and then not actually delivered a product. Also, some companies announce in advance in hope of heading off purchases of competitor products in the interim. Many companies' fiscal years begin in June or July, so they allocate money and start making purchasing decisions about now.

 

[valinrace]

Hope they release it soon, so I would ask the ratings and reviews of it.

 

[seneca18]

Depends on strategy and target market. Microsoft and other companies have sent up trial balloons before, and then not actually delivered a product. Also, some companies announce in advance in hope of heading off purchases of competitor products in the interim. Many companies' fiscal years begin in June or July, so they allocate money and start making purchasing decisions about now.

I can only hope they know what they are doing, because this thing actually looks pretty nice. It would be nice to actually have a true iPad competitor. I am interested in the pro version since it can run full windows programs.

 

[Fred Thorne]

I have long argued that Microsoft makes products that are original and good. The only problem is, the products that are original are not good, and the products that are good are not original.

 

[yushihang]

I think it's interesting

 

[Kaykaykay]

I can only hope they know what they are doing, because this thing actually looks pretty nice. It would be nice to actually have a true iPad competitor. I am interested in the pro version since it can run full windows programs.

I'm interested, too. I have no brand loyalty, and all companies are welcome to compete for my money. If Microsoft delivers, it certainly has a shot at my cash.

I'm also willing to wait. I wanted a tablet for years before iPad, and I held out till one finally met my needs. iPad 1 and 2 still work fine for me in the short term, too.

 

[applechick]

One thing another tablet could never do is sync with my computer, tv and phone. This feature is one of the many reasons I love Apple products!

 

[Kaykaykay]

One thing another tablet could never do is sync with my computer, tv and phone. This feature is one of the many reasons I love Apple products!

There are plenty of ways to synch non-Apple tablets to various gadgets. What makes you think otherwise?

 

[adyhooper]

Yeah heard of it. I guess it really doesn't matter much to apple. Microsoft have registered it's patent of surface before 3 years, when ipad was not even launch. It is true that it had registered its patent for big computer tablet and it have launch it's miniature but it really doesn't matter.

 

[twerppoet]

Big computer tablet? The original Surface is the size of a desk. While it was a touchscreen, I don't think it qualifies as a tablet Computer.