Microsoft Breaks Surface in Tablet Market

Along with Microsoft's release of Windows 8 this Friday (October 26th), there will also be a new tablet product introduced to the market. The Windows Surface is the new tablet PC from Microsoft that will be their leading competitive product against Apple's iPad Mini. The edge that this new tablet will have is the sleek attachable keyboard that magnetically clips to the bottom of the PC for instant use. There will be 2 versions of this tablet available at launch; the Surface Pro and the Surface RT. The Surface Pro is advertised to be able to do anything that a current computer is able to do while the Surface RT will be for users that are only purchasing the device for a more casual type of use. The Pro will come with an option to have 64GB or 128GB of storage space with a 3rd Generation Intel i5 Processor and 4GB of RAM. This takes a huge technological advantage over the RT where only 32GB or 64GB are available with 2GB of RAM. The Surface RT will not be running any lesser type of an Intel Core Processor, instead it will be running a Nvidia Tegra 3, which will require less energy but, will not be compatible with applications outside of the new Windows App Store. This processor will greatly decrease the amount of tasks that users will be able to accomplish while using the RT, and with its $499 base price, it makes one ask if it is really worth buying.

So far, the reviews on the RT tablet haven't been the greatest. Not only is the storage low, but it pretty much doesn't fit into any customer niche. For one thing, Microsoft has made it pretty much impossible to aim the product at business users. The business license agreements that need to be agreed to when using Microsoft office programs basically states that Microsoft Office cannot legally be used for business purposes. Outlook cannot be used by businesses to check their email, PowerPoint cannot be used for business presentations, and Microsoft Excel cannot be used for business accounting. Since they're altogether relieved themselves of that segment, it should be clear that the tablet is good for educational purposes and use in schools. However, unless the tablet uses Flash it will be useless to students, especially at $499 for 32 gigs. So if it's not marketed towards students or businesses, it's more than likely aimed at the consumer population, right? Wrong. For one thing, the tablet doesn't have a very consumer-friendly name, the Microsoft Surface RT doesn't sound nearly as high-tech or trendy as the iPad or the Kindle or the Galaxy Tab. It also doesn't have nearly as many apps as an apple product. Their biggest competitive advantage is the fact that consumers want to be able to run their mainstream Windows apps, but it can't even do that, which means it definitely can't run PC games. Games are important to consumers. The bottom line is that this product is clearly not geared towards the audience of people who just wants to read emails, play games, and socialize. So far, there seems to be no customer class for this tablet other than corporate business users, who will most likely choose the slim ultra-book over the Surface RT anyway.

Cited:

"Surface." Microsoft. Microsoft. Web. 23 Oct 2012. <http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-US/surface-with-windows-8-pro/home>.

"Microsoft Surface RT vs. Surface Pro: Which Tablet Will You Want?." PC World. PC World, 01 2012. Web. 23 Oct 2012. 

Gerwitz, David. "5 big things that baffle me about Microsoft Surface RT." ZDNet. CBS Interactive, 22 2012. Web. 23 Oct 2012. <http://www.zdnet.com/5-big-things-that-baffle-me-about-microsoft-surface-