Microsoft Surface, Will it kill the i-pad? Options

[Licentia Per Ori...]

So unless you have been hiding under a rock for the last couple of months you will know that Microsoft are planning to jump into the tablet space.

This is currently dominated by Apple.
Will Microsoft take apples crown?

many people are of the opinion that it's going to give apple a serious kicking, and will migrate more people to the microsoft eco-system, resulting in lower future sales of i-phones and i-pods to boot.

Personally i think it will do more, It has the capabilities to dominate the tablet market.

my reasoning is that.
1. It works at work.
I pad is great and that, but if you work in an office chances are you use windows there. You will use MS office,
The i-pad does not work well with Windows, The surface will be designed to work with it seamlessly.

2. It out specs the i-pad.
Microsoft are releasing two versions with the pro version packing an Ivy bridge i5!
It's a serious but of kit.

3. the keyboard.
Yea it's a tablet, but putting the keyboard on it.
(and crucially giving it away for free)
make the windows tablet a true contender for laptop replacement.
Even the biggest apple fan-boi out there will admit that the i-pad is good for consuming content (watching and reading things)
but is completely crap when it comes to creating content (like forum posts)

So what are your thoughts?
are Microsoft going to dominate in the hand-held market?
the i-phone 5 is launching, and no one is excited about it.
But the new Nokia phones are far more exciting,
and will having your PC, Tablet, Phone and Games console all operate on a single integrated eco system attract customers to Microsoft?

[Licentia Per Ori...]

I dunno xmo -
I think there is far more to a company than it's share price. Or market value.
This is a representation on how much money the company is making, But does not take many things into account.

Apple does not have lots of money because it made lots of profit from selling gadgets.
It has lots of profit because it charges a commission for everything that happens on it's eco system.
Want to sell a song on i-tunes, apple take a cut
Want to release an app for i-phone, apple take a cut.
Or buy a book for your i-pad, yup, they take a cut.

This is of course not unique to apple,
But you have to look at the type of people who own apple products (more money than sense) -
If you compare the average spend on apps, and music, between android, apple, and nokia owners.
The apple user will have the highest spend.
After all this is the type of person who can afford to spend £3000 on a laptop, even though it's a £800 pc model with a shiny case and ios preinstalled. Is probably going to give less thought to buying a £1 app that makes a silly noise.

The markets judge a company on pure profits, and that is a very one dimensional way to look at a company
After all if you judge a company by the rise in it's share price alone. then Coca-Cola isn't exactly doing great.
Certainly a lot worse than apple.
However far more people know the coca-cola brand than the apple brand.
Whats more it's likely that 99% of the worlds population will be a customer at some point
and if i had to make a bet on which company will still be around in 200 years time.
My money is on the beverage company from Atlanta, who's name has more global presence and recognition than that of Jesus Christ.

Apple relies entirely on it's "cool" and the myths surrounding it's "stability" and "Usability" (that these are unique to apple)
Now part of that cool comes from the fact that graphic designer, photographer, post production, musician. used to = apple.
They were more powerful than PC's. But those times have gone.

Apple iOS is in reality no more stable or easy to use than Windows,
Apple iOS is just as vulnerable to virus's as windows (more so because so many people think apple can't get virus)
Apple i-phone is just as simple to use as every other phone.
Every smart-phone has been designed with idiots in mind.
I have yet to see a single one that would require the reading of a manual to use.

If apple lose these things, what do they have?
let me put it this way.
You go to a shop to buy a laptop.
You can buy an Acer for £800, or a Sony with the exact same spec for £3000
Which do you buy?
now no-one would by the sony for 3 times as much, because it's not cooler, it wont be more stable, more secure, better for pictures, better for movie editing, easier to use.

It's not in the tech, it was never about the tech. It was the marketing.

Steve Jobs was a genius.
He took a bunch of 3rd rate components, a buggy operating system (remember when mac os used to do a skynet, refusing to even switch off?), put them together in a shiny cool looking box, called it the i-mac and sold it at a huge mark up.

He gave the world the i-phone
a phone that did not have anything ground breaking about it what so ever.
but within a year had become synonymous with the word smart-phone.
much like google is used instead of search, or Hoover the term for vacuum cleaner.
i-phone nearly became the word for smart-phone.

That buzz
That marketing, and media insight and effectiveness is what put apple to the position they are at now.
Which is why Apple is closer to being a fashion brand than a Tech brand.
And that is somewhat superficial.

5 years ago. what did having apple say about you?
today, what does having apple say about you?
and what of tomorrow.

This is what will determine the success or failure of Apple,
and this is something those working in the banks have no clue about.
because it's not about numbers, and profits and costs.

It's media, it's marketing
and that my chums and chumettes, is a whole different field of knowledge

:-)

This post has been edited by Licentia Per Oris: Sep 18 2012, 06:46 AM