4 ms·
Microsoft is not a zero-fat product generating machine like Apple. They're almost a university that happens to produce a few products on the side. Somehow, th
by beloch 12y ago
Microsoft is not a zero-fat product generating machine like Apple. They're almost a university that happens to produce a few products on the side. Somehow, they're still profitable. They're not as profitable as Apple, but must every company stockpile cash like Apple does before they can be considered successful?
This article argues that MS should kill the Surface because it hasn't been a runaway success. By this logic, the Xbox should go too (the article says as much) and hey, even though he didn't mention it, why not the whole mobile end of the business too? Hey, Windows 8 is a total failure (the article says as much), so why is that sacred cow not on the block too? Microsoft is failing at everything and they should just quit. That leaves... what? Corporate? Embedded servers?
Seriously, this argument is a hot mess. Microsoft obviously has to make smart business choices about what things they can afford to pursue, but a lack of immediate success is not adequate grounds to sever themselves from their aspirations. MS wants to get into the hardware market because it's made Apple gigabuckets of cash. The surface, although not the most commercially hot commodity out there, is a good piece of kit and has some dedicated fans. It's fundamentally different from anything else on the market right now. i.e. It's a tablet that's actually good for more than mere consumption. To date, price has probably been the biggest thing holding it back. Well, prices have a funny way of coming down over time. The Surface's day may yet come.
- acgourley 12y agoYour last point is important - for many people the Surface tablet isn't competing with the iPad, it's competing with the MacBook Air. And it's already winning on price there.
- Tobani 12y ago> And it's already winning on price there. Is that still true if you need a keyboard? Price doesn't seem to be the deciding factor for the people buying apple hardware.
- tinco 12y agoPerhaps an exception that proves the rule but I bought my macbook pro 13" at 1300€ in 2009 because it was significantly cheaper then the competing offerings (IBM thinkpad and Dell E series)
- greedo 12y agoIn what universe? The cheapest Macbook Air is $899, this comes with an i5, and 128GB RAM, and a keyboard. The comparable Surface Pro 3 is $999 sans keyboard. Adding a keyboard will run you another $130. Total cost of $1129. So you're losing on price by $229. Now you're thinking, the Surface Pro 3 has a 12" screen. We'll compare it to the 13" MBA: $999 with the i5, and 128GB standard. KB included. ;) The comparable SP3 will still cost you $1129. Still paying over 10% more.
- tdicola 12y agoHow is it winning on price vs. the Air? The 11" Air starts at 899 vs. the Surface 3 with similar Core i5, 4GB memory, and 128GB SSD hardware that starts at 999. Add the $100+ keyboard cover to the Surface and it's an worse comparison. The 13" Air is 999 and again comes with the keyboard of course.
- pmelendez 12y agoThe Air doesn't have touchscreen nor proper digitizer though. And those features are important for some people.
- ghaff 12y ago>The surface, although not the most commercially hot commodity out there, is a good piece of kit and has some dedicated fans. It's fundamentally different from anything else on the market right now. i.e. It's a tablet that's actually good for more than mere consumption. Right. I have no idea if the new Surface will succeed or not and, frankly, don't especially care as I'm out of the Windows ecosystem and am unlikely to re-enter it. That said, IF someone can really crack the code for making a device that works well as both a consumption and a creation device, it seems as if that would be interesting to a lot of people. Apple arguably made the tablet popular precisely by being willing to break from laptop/creation constraints but there's no reason to believe that reconvergence can't happen whether by Microsoft, Apple, or (possibly) some future Chromebook or Linux variant thereof.
- greedo 12y agoI think that Apple can make iOS/iPad more "Surface" like faster and more successfully than MS can make the Surface as popular as the iPad.