|
I have already blogged about my thoughts on
Surface RT (Surface RT: To Be Or Not To Be (Part
1)). Much of the same things apply to the
Surface Pro such as how it was announced
& launched, price & marketing, so I
will not rehash those in this post.
Negatives And What Can Fix Them
-
Weight – To Bulky: I have
only used a Surface Pro at a Microsoft
store, but there are two ways to look at
this. If you are comparing it to a
tablet, then yes it is bulkier than most
tablets on the market. But it is not a
true table, it is a hybrid. So to compare
weight/bulk you need to compare it to a
laptop or netbook not the other tablets on
the market. So, I do not think this is an
issue and the Surface Pro is very light
for the power that it delivers
-
Price: Not going to go
into a lot of details here because I
already covered what I thought the pricing
should have been at launch (Surface Tablets: The Price Must Be
Right). Microsoft needs to be more aggressive
on it’s pricing if it expects to steal any
market share away from Apple in the
high-end “tablet” market and Android in
the low-end tablet market.
-
No Docking Station: I
like the keyboards that are available, but
they are better for when I am mobile.
When I am at home though, I really would
like a docking station so I can use my
main monitor, keyboard and mouse. I know I
can use the HDMI out cable and USB
connector to attaches these device, but I
don’t want to have to plug in multiple
plugs to get my Surface Pro connected.
Just like a laptop with docking station, I
just want to walk in and click my Surface
Pro into a docking stations to have
access to my main screen, keyboard and
mouse. Showing a user “click” into a
docking station would be a great feature
to show users.
|
|
-
Battery Life: The battery life is
not very good on the Surface Pro, but it is
comparable to most laptops. That being said,
there are other hybrid devices that are being
launched by OEM’s that get almost double the
battery life. So I know this can be improved and
hopefully we will see a drastic improvement in
battery life of the Gen2 Surface Pros that are
about to be released. The next generation chips
should also help in this area. I hope the next
generation Surface devices takes advantage of
these chips.
-
Poor Desktop Experience: It is
all about the desktop experience for consumers and
MS needs to make the desktop experience a first
class citizen (same as metro). There is no harm
in doing this and will make more people look at
the Surface Pro and other hybrid devices out
there. For those who want to a hybrid devices as
a “laptop/netbook” first, the user needs to have
the flexibility to configure the devices to get
the most out of the desktop. At the same time for
those looking for a tablet first that just happens
to run desktop applications, the user need to be
able to configure it for their needs. Microsoft’s
biggest mistake was forcing the Metro design on
all consumers.
My Predictions For The Surface Pro (And Other
Hybrid Devices)
I honestly think that the Surface Pro and the other
hybrid devices being put out by OEM’s are where the
future lies for Microsoft. All the numbers I have
seen about Microsoft tablet sales have excluded the
Surface Pro and other hybrids. I would be
interesting to see what those numbers show. I am
also curious to see whether the industry counts
these hybrid devices as tablets or netbooks/laptops.
In my opinion there should be another category for
hybrid devices. Right now none of the other
competitors (Apple or Google) has anything to
compare, so Microsoft actually has 100% of this
market. Right now the market is wide open and if
Microsoft plays it cards right, it can own this
market. But if they make to many mistakes, sooner or
later Apple/Google will jump on the bandwagon and
Microsoft will lose the advantage of being first to
the market.
Google Glasses and the Smart Watches being released
(i.e. Agent Watch) are cool and they will sell to a
select audience, but I believe the real market in
the future is going to be for hybrid devices. Most
consumers don’t want to carry around a tablet,
laptop and phones so if they can get rid of one
device and only carry around a hybrid device and a
phone, then a lot of people will do that. For
examples
-
My Apple fan boy nephew sold his iPad so he can
get a Windows 8 hybrid device. His reasoning is
he likes Windows 8 as a tablet OS and he can run
all his everyday desktop applications as well
(including the CAD applications he uses for work).
In addition, his wife wants a Surface RT.
-
One of the pastors of my church has the “Dell –
XPS Duo 12” and he loves it. He likes the fact
that he can do all the work he normally did on his
old desktop. And when he has a meeting or needs
to be mobile, he can put it in tablet mode and
take it with him (without closing the applications
he was working in). I have seen him many times
walking around the church with it in tablet modes
as he is working Sunday mornings. He told me he
would never go back to just having a plain old
desktop or laptop. He also loves the stylus and
handwriting recognition when in a meeting taking
notes.
-
As soon as my laptop dies I am going to buy a
hybrid device. There is no reason to have both a
laptop and tablet when I can have the best of both
worlds in on device. I just cannot justify buying
it until my laptop dies. Hopefully, by the time I
am ready to buy a hybrid devices, Microsoft will
have the Windows 8 desktop experience rock solid.
The above examples are not a big sampling, but it
does show that if Microsoft markets the Surface Pro
and the other hybrid devices right, there is a
market out there for them. Up till now though, I
think Microsoft and their OEM’s has missed getting
this message across (except to the technical crowd
that understands the differences). My parents
couldn’t tell you what the difference is between a
Surface RT and a Surface Pro (or any other hybrid
for that matter). And I think my parents are a very
good example of most consumers out there.
[AddThis]
|
