Microsoft CEO Stokes Surface Phone Rumors With 'Ultimate Mobile Device' Comments

[star-affinity]

Sure it's lacking app, but it doesn't have random bugs like "slide to answer" not always sliding…

Strange. I've heard some people complain about that (my sister is one of them), but I can't remember it happening even once for me on the iPhone 6 (128 GB) I've been using every day for about two years now.

I came to think about something – do you have some kind of screen protector? I think my sister has that. Could have something to do with it? I dunno…

 

[KALLT]

I used Windows Phone, left because of the lack of apps, got an iPhone SE, and just got rid of it for my old Windows Phone. Sure it's lacking app, but it doesn't have random bugs like "slide to answer" not always sliding, or the lift to turn on feature that turns the screen on when it's sitting on my desk. Let alone Siri who thinks my most frequently used app at home is for Waste Management. Seriously, if you look beyond the apps there's a whole lot of WTF moments in the iPhone that Windows 10 doesn't have..

That is anecdotal and does not reflect my experiences with it, which were absolutely terrible. I also have friends who stubbornly use these devices and they still complain about them quite a bit. The happiest smartphone users are iPhone users in my judgment, at least until they got over the price.

 

[Pootmatoot]

I'd love it to use the Surface stylus input.

The Note series really is incredibly good - it's madness that only Samsung has captured that stylus/phablet sweetspot.

Apple once ruled the university laptop arena, even just a few years ago. Now if you go into a lecture hall, what was once wall-to-wall glowing apples is now entirely Surface Pro 4s. There's no reason the same can't happen with phones.

 

[Pilgrim1099]

I'd love it to use the Surface stylus input.

The Note series really is incredibly good - it's madness that only Samsung has captured that stylus/phablet sweetspot.

Apple once ruled the university laptop arena, even just a few years ago. Now if you go into a lecture hall, what was once wall-to-wall glowing apples is now entirely Surface Pro 4s. There's no reason the same can't happen with phones.

I'm seeing the same thing here at this college town which some students and professional use Surface Pros and Chromebooks. It's a huge shift. People are looking for functionality, not vanity design like Apple does.

The Surface phone will most likely be compatible with the pen. Wouldn't be surprised.

 

[69650]

Steve Jobs didn't make vague proclamations. He'd show off new products when they were ready to ship.

Unlike Tim Cook who can't ship the products he shows off.

 

[zelman]

I hope they get their Danger patents together and release a new Sidekick/Hiptop!

 

[Pilgrim1099]

1) Surface Studio is not a mobile device so it's you the one who should read the article again in the first place
2) Surface Studio may have been acclaimed by tech press, but it's a flop just like the rest of Microsoft PC offering. It's a super-tiny niche machine at best, with an absurd price that will not translate in a good resale value.
3) as far as commercial success goes, the MBP you bash is the best selling PC by far and away, despite the high price, overtaking the entire Surface lineup 1.5 years sales in just 2 weeks.

1) The Surface Studio is not the point of my argument but rather the connection it has to MS's Surface products such as the phone. The phone is probably the next phase of their plan to restructure their mobile market, just like what Google did with the Pixel. It seems to me they're in the process of unifying their product line.

2) super tiny niche machine? lol. Absurd price? LOL. Look how much the Macbook Pro with TouchBar costs. There is a real reason the Surface Studio is expensive and that is due to the large screen technology. And no, the " gorilla arms " argument don't hold true anymore. I'm a designer/artist and have drawn on an inclined tablet many times and have never suffered 'gorilla arms'. Apple's argument is BS and pansy a$$ed.

3) Best selling? Keep smoking. I find the Touch Bar hipster douchey and pointless. If you think professionals are snapping these up, you're deluded. Not many of them are pleased with the design decision that Phil the Shill and Phony Ive has come up with. The MBP is compromised just like the iphone 7.
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Except that nobody is buying that overpriced piece of trash.

Looks like a good idea, but doesn't fulfill anyone's needs.

Overpriced? Hmm...how much is that new MBP with Touch Bar? Oh wait...Overpriced garbage, too, that says " We're too chicken to go big so we'll stay small and weeny with that touch bar to get douchey with ". I'd rather have the Surface Studio for the large screen estate for my line of work and using that Dial is a great idea as a physical form of rotating short keys.
[doublepost=1480009436][/doublepost]

So everybody is a graphic designer now?

It's meant to convey that the Surface Studio exists and that the inclined design for the screen to do hands on digital work is becoming the standard. One day, most PCs will have that set up with virtual keys built in so users can push or pull the screen in any angle they want. This is the RIGHT way to do a touchscreen PC.

And if Microsoft comes out with a cheaper version of the Surface Studio for the masses or enterprise, it wouldn't surprise me at all.

This was the desktop that Apple should've went despite the stupid " Gorilla Arms " argument. I've used a wacom inclined on my desk and never had an issue. PCs ( and Macs ) are not going away but will be evolving to this form factor in the next 5-10 years as standard. There's no way that PC monitors are going to stay vertical forever. Something has to evolve.

Apple dropped the ball on this one.

 

[pika2000]

I'm seeing the same thing here at this college town which some students and professional use Surface Pros and Chromebooks. It's a huge shift. People are looking for functionality, not vanity design like Apple does.

The Surface phone will most likely be compatible with the pen. Wouldn't be surprised.

There is a niche market with needs that are met with the Surface Pros for sure.

However, regular people that bought the Surface simply did it because it's different and cool. Heck, most people around me with a Surface Pro use it as a laptop. If the form factor is so great, then we should see the copycats from Samsung/Huawei/HP/Acer/Lenovo selling more since they are cheaper/include the keyboard. Have you seen any Lenovo Miix, Galaxy TabProS, or HP Elite X2 around? Nope. It's a phase, and Surface Pros are selling simply because of brand/marketing.

Chromebooks might be seeing some traction in developed markets, but it's not a trend setter.

 

[Zirel]

Overpriced? Hmm...how much is that new MBP with Touch Bar? Oh wait...Overpriced garbage, too, that says " We're too chicken to go big so we'll stay small and weeny with that touch bar to get douchey with ". I'd rather have the Surface Studio for the large screen estate for my line of work and using that Dial is a great idea as a physical form of rotating short keys.

The MBP is cheaper and more valuable.

Nobody cares about touchscreens on PCs.

The dial is ridiculous, and charging $99 for a mouse wheel is the most ridiculous thing I've seen this year.

 

[Pootmatoot]

There is a niche market with needs that are met with the Surface Pros for sure.

However, regular people that bought the Surface simply did it because it's different and cool. Heck, most people around me with a Surface Pro use it as a laptop. If the form factor is so great, then we should see the copycats from Samsung/Huawei/HP/Acer/Lenovo selling more since they are cheaper/include the keyboard. Have you seen any Lenovo Miix, Galaxy TabProS, or HP Elite X2 around? Nope. It's a phase, and Surface Pros are selling simply because of brand/marketing.

Chromebooks might be seeing some traction in developed markets, but it's not a trend setter.

Well, any product is "a phase". The one that does it best (or is marketed best) is often disproportionately used.

It's why Apple should be worried: they've seen the student market they spent 2 decades cultivating wiped out in a few years. Microsoft looks like it's now aiming for the other major leg of Apple's computer industry: the creative professional.

It looks like they might now also try for the phone market. What if they cut a deal to bundled free tethered 3G to a phone/Surfacebook combo? There's all sort of ways to lever market share when you start succeeding in multiple industries.

The map is changing rapidly, and Apple is making emoji bars and playing with colour options.
[doublepost=1480010184][/doublepost]

The MBP is cheaper and more valuable.

Nobody cares about touchscreens on PCs.

The dial is ridiculous, and charging $99 for a mouse wheel is the most ridiculous thing I've seen this year.

You clearly have never stepped foot into the creative department of the film industry, or magazine industry, or an architect's office. It's always Cintiqs, often with Macs.

It's a core leg of Apple's computer demographic. Microsoft is aiming squarely at the leg. It's not a casual machine, it's one catering to the creative professionals Apple has seemingly abandoned.

You're looking at this with weird consumer blinkers, and missing the bigger picture.

 

[Rigby]

I think there is currently a big opening for an entrant with new ideas to shake up the market, since both iOS and Android phones have grown stale and boring. I don't know if MS can pull it off, but if they have something really innovative, that would be great ...

 

[Pootmatoot]

I think there is currently a big opening for an entrant with new ideas to shake up the market, since both iOS and Android phones have grown stale and boring. I don't know if MS can pull it off, but if they have something really innovative, that would be great ...

Given the Note disaster, if an option replicates that functionality (which it likely will) they already have an easy early adopter market to target.

 

[radiology]

Except that nobody is buying that overpriced piece of trash.

Looks like a good idea, but doesn't fulfill anyone's needs.

You would be saying something completely different if that overpriced piece of trash had an Apple logo, wouldn't you?

 

[Pootmatoot]

Heavens to Betsy... what if it's Microsoft's abandoned Courier project from a decade ago, that folds into a phone, and now can be ultrathin with 2017 tech?

That would be very, very exciting.

 

[eebrown]

I think there is currently a big opening for an entrant with new ideas to shake up the market, since both iOS and Android phones have grown stale and boring. I don't know if MS can pull it off, but if they have something really innovative, that would be great ...

I sure hope they can, I already went from using my IMac to using a windows laptop. I'm by no means a power user when it comes to computers but find the windows laptop much better for my computing needs. I have used an iPhone since the iPhone 3 came out but have been considering a move out of the Apple ecosystem, my point is I think there certainly is an open door for someone to put a dent in the Apple strong hold on the phone market.

 

[handsome pete]

I never used a windows phone, but used Windows 8 & 10 pretty extensively on a Surface. While I still think Windows needs more work for touch based devices, I always thought the tile start menu was a great design for mobile. The ios UI is seriously dated at this point. And while the app store may have a huge advantage in total number of apps, most of them are garbage. As long as the major players support the new Windows device then I may be tempted to switch when it comes time to upgrade.

 

[pika2000]

Well, any product is "a phase". The one that does it best (or is marketed best) is often disproportionately used.

It's why Apple should be worried: they've seen the student market they spent 2 decades cultivating wiped out in a few years. Microsoft looks like it's now aiming for the other major leg of Apple's computer industry: the creative professional.

It looks like they might now also try for the phone market. What if they cut a deal to bundled free tethered 3G to a phone/Surfacebook combo? There's all sort of ways to lever market share when you start succeeding in multiple industries.

The map is changing rapidly, and Apple is making emoji bars and playing with colour options.

I'm glad you are not an Apple executive or a board member.
The Surface Pro already reached its 4th iteration, and the copycats are abundantly available. Again, if that kind of form factor truly works, you would see proliferation of the copycats in the wild, but no.

Let's look at Steve Jobs' own words and vision. The map is changing rapidly, into mobile. Steve Jobs himself used the analogy of trucks and cars. Apple bet on mobile, and now they have one of the most efficient and powerful mobile SoC, alongside other custom silicons focusing on various things (wireless, wearables, etc).

Free tethered 3G? Microsoft doesn't even have good relationships anymore with the carriers. And Microsoft did try selling LTE equipped Surfaces. Have you seen one in the wild? Thought so.

I'm not discounting Microsoft. Microsoft is banking on platform agnostic services. I am discounting opinions that think Microsoft's recent successes somehow undermine Apple's.

 

[Gudi]

Surface Studio says " Hi. Where's your latest iMac that's supposed to be me? ".

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Look, I'm not against the plotting board form factor, this is how engineering work has been done for the better part of industrialization. But Microsoft won't sell enough of these kind of PCs to pull in a new wave of developers needed to create thousands of touch-based apps, who will make Windows the third touch plattform next to iOS and Android.

In January Apple announced 1 billion Apple devices in active use worldwide, most of them iPhones. This is the amount of potential customers for any given app. The majority of iOS developers won't even bother to make a special iPad version of their iPhone app, let alone an iPad Pro version. macOS development is something else entirely and most Macs are laptops nowadays. All developers in the world who might be even mildly interested in writing and selling third-party software for a plotting board iMac probably fit in a very small room. There is no market to be build around this form factor, regrettably.

 

[pika2000]

Given the Note disaster, if an option replicates that functionality (which it likely will) they already have an easy early adopter market to target.

The S-pen on the Note is useful only for a niche market. In reality, most people are not using the stylus. People bought the Note line for status symbol because it's Samsung's most expensive model. Go look at the Note 7 recall. Samsung themselves said people are exchanging their Note 7 for the S7 Edge, the second most expensive Samsung phone, no stylus. If people were using the stylus, they would've exchanged their Note 7 for the Note 5.

It also explains why no other companies (only LG I think that tried), not even the Chinese copiers, are doing a stylus phablet. There are niche market that will find a stylus useful, but majority of people don't want a stylus.

 

[Pootmatoot]

Look, I'm not against the plotting board form factor, this is how engineering work has been done for the better part of industrialization. But Microsoft won't sell enough of these kind of PCs to pull in a new wave of developers needed to create thousands of touch-based apps, who will make Windows the third touch plattform next to iOS and Android.

In January Apple announced 1 billion Apple devices in active use worldwide, most of them iPhones. This is the amount of potential customers for any given app. The majority of iOS developers won't even bother to make a special iPad version of their iPhone app, let alone an iPad Pro version. macOS development is something else entirely and most Macs are laptops nowadays. All developers in the world who might be even mildly interested in writing and selling third-party software for a plotting board iMac probably fit in a very small room. There is no market to be build around this form factor, regrettably.

Every single company that matters will - and most already have: ie the Adobes of the world.

It doesn't need fart apps. My Cintiq doesn't have fart apps. This is product aimed at creative professionals.

 

[Gudi]

I like how you did not address any of Gudi’s points.
Surface Studio has yet to prove itself.

Post-factual economics.

 

[blackcrayon]

With apple stagnating in its quest for ever thinner and lighter - Microsoft have an opportunity here.

The Surface studio is a touch screen implemented correctly - great innovation. All apple can respond is - 'can't be done'.

If Microsoft can carry on this innovation in new smartphones - then don't count them out.

Surface studio is a great design, but it isn't one that will or should appeal to that many people, at that cost. And the hardware outside of the screen is pretty backward for a computer that expensive (ironically, they garner the same criticism Apple often gets).

A Surface phone is a completely different thing. I don't see it doing much vs the iPhone and high end Android phones (which are already very good), unless it runs Android apps directly or some other way to get *all* of the first run software for it.

 

[PizzaBoxStyle]

For me to buy an MS phone, i would want something x86 powered and can run full desktop windows apps natively whether it be as a phablet or when plugged into a monitor.

The problem is that the platform otherwise offers no incentive for me to buy one.

So something that looks/works a lot like Microsoft Continuum, which they have.

I'd keep an open mind about a Surface phone. I would never switch from iOS to Android, but I might be willing to move this way...

 

[Pootmatoot]

So something that looks/works a lot like Microsoft Continuum, which they have.

I'd keep an open mind about a Surface phone. I would never switch from iOS to Android, but I might be willing to move that way...

What gives me hope is they essentially dumped the entire previous iteration of Windows phones.

That suggests this isn't going to be "just" a phone running W10.

 

[Rigby]

Given the Note disaster, if an option replicates that functionality (which it likely will) they already have an easy early adopter market to target.

Actually I find the Note just as boring as all the other phones. Hoping for something a bit more exciting.