Our CEO Peter Badger was on the road in New York during last week’s new tablet announcementpalooza. On Tuesday came the iPad Mini and a fourth-generation regular-sized iPad (though a lot of people missed that second one entirely). Then Friday, to much/some/a bit of fanfare, the Microsoft Surface arrived on the scene.
At Framehawk, we’re definitely gadget freaks. If there’s a new mobile device, someone in the office has it on Day One. For example, Peter unboxed his just-released iPad 3 during one of our staff meetings a few months back.
So, we’re certainly not going to let last week’s gadgetfest go by unnoticed. We haven’t gotten our hands on an iPad Mini yet, but Peter had a chance to try out the Surface. And, well, let’s just say the review wasn’t glowing. His comments:
“I played with the Microsoft Surface tablet today and it is seriously lacking. Usability was terrible. I couldn’t navigate to the home page, to apps, or within apps. Crazy side menu pop-ups appeared in random ways.”
Those who know Peter know that he is a big proponent of Apple, but his disappointment with the new Microsoft tablet was more about how he thought the average person would react. And the impact that would have on the enterprise:
“Yes, I am an Apple fanboy, but I’ve got to tell you, this thing is in for a rough ride with consumers. And without that consumer interest, the Surface won’t be the challenge to iPad and Android in the enterprise that Microsoft wants it to be.”
According to Peter, though, Apple didn’t hit it out of the park last week either (unlike a certain Panda).
“Of course, Apple’s not perfect: WiFi only for now for the iPad Mini? I haven’t seen it yet, but come on. That’s a bit of a let-down.”
The market will decide, of course, what the right form-factor and feature choices are. IDC analyst Bob O’Donnell predicted “huge sales and lots of confusion” for tablets over the next few months, with a chance for Amazon Kindle Fire HD and Google’s Nexus 7 to make some inroads, but Apple to maintain the lionshare of the market.
Mike Elgan’s Datamation article last week also sided with the iPad Mini over the Surface. Elgan said that while the Surface is cool and has Microsoft on the right track, the iPad Mini should outsell it 10:1 in the next 6 months based on the price, the keyboard, apps, maturity, and a bad consumer reputation for Microsoft.
As you try out these devices yourself, let us know what you think. We’ll keep doing the same.
Jay February 12, 2013 1:52 am
Okay… I am one of those apple guys who held out for both the new windows Mobil phones on Sprint and the surface tablet. I am Soooo very disappointed, but it’s the kind of disappointment that gets me upset, I actually feel it.
Microsofts strategy is the most bizarre ever… Surface RT is way over priced and makes no sense to buy one with the variety of android tablets packing even more features and functionality that are less expensive. Ugh ! I waited months to get a surface and am still holding out hoping that Microsoft would do a better market analisys and fix the software issues as well as the price point.
If Microsoft gets it right, I would buy a phone running windows mobile and get a surface tablet. I do a great deal of work using Microsoft office and live the new sky drive and the rework of live.com. It works well. I like the interface, but there is NO phone released on the Sprint network for many years. Please Microsoft, talk to other market segments and “go big, or apple and google, will make you “go home”, you are missing your chance at customers like myself and I just don’t get it.
Jay Fry February 14, 2013 10:59 am
It’s that set of people like you — those who do a bunch of their work using Microsoft Office — that I think Microsoft is hoping to appeal to with their new offerings. The problem might be that they are relying on that pull too much and compromised on what they delivered.
In playing with the Surface myself, I figured out pretty quickly why they did what they did…and I don’t think it was because it was the perfect user experience. Instead, they made UI and design decisions based on their business strategy.
I know people who love it, and I see the draw given the programs that people use every day in the office. My thought: maybe this is not a tablet to compete with the iPad, but their PC replacement device instead.
Here are a couple more posts we’ve done on the Surface topic that talk through some of these ideas in more detail (with some positive comments for Microsoft, actually):
http://framehawk.com/in-mobile-microsoft-is-so-far-behind-they-might-be-ahead/
http://framehawk.com/on-second-thought-maybe-microsoft-surface-is-worth-a-look-for-enterprises/
http://framehawk.com/ios-and-android-are-missing-something/