Microsoft Executive Says iPad Pro Was Apple's Response to Surface

[Loismustdie1]

Yes, Apple is just as in the wrong as Microsoft. The iPad is not a full fledged laptop, it's a consumption device. Sure you can play around with images, etc. But it's more consumption device rather than a creation device. The surface is more a creation device than a consumption device.

It's ridiculous to compare the two devices as they serve two difference audiences.

I wish the notion that real creation and work cannot be done on iPad would die already. My main go to device is my iPad Pro. The Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard (I will concede the Microsoft’s tablet keyboard is far superior to Apple’s solution) has allowed me to create wonderful info graphics, presentations and even some on the fly video editing. Consequently, my SurfaceBook has been nothing but a nightmare: I had to have the base replaced twice, the touch screen is not even close to being as good as iPad’s and for me, just an overall nightmare.

Obviously, different professions will have different needs and maybe for some Microsoft’s solution works best. However to dismiss iPad as just a “consumption device” shows a lack of imagination on your part.

 

[IG88]

Upcoming Windows on ARM will kill the iPad Pro and some of the Macbooks. It also has the advantage of lower BOM cost by several hundred dollars. Wait for the comment at the end where she says it runs better with only 4GB DRAM than her Macbook (assuming 8GB).

Windows RT should have never existed. This will be compelling however.

 

[SeaFox]

Surface a best-in-class laptop? Sheesh they have low standards in Redmond, don't they…

Key word is "best in class".
So, in a class of devices that really should be calling themselves "netbook"...

 

[Naraxus]

Here's a news flash: I don't particularly give a rats ass what was in response to what. I'll use what I like and I like them both for different reasons
[doublepost=1497674482][/doublepost]

Pro-troll nonsense. Firstly because the Surface itself is a copy of the iPad.....

The Surface is most certainly NOT a copy of the iPad.

 

[AdonisSMU]

Here's a news flash: I don't particularly give a rats ass what was in response to what. I'll use what I like and I like them both for different reasons
[doublepost=1497674482][/doublepost]
The Surface is most certainly NOT a copy of the iPad.

It is a copy of the iPad. It's just a very bad copy of the iPad. It's not a good computer or a good tablet. It's not good at anything but it can in theory do everything.

 

[Blue Sun]

"As for Microsoft following Apple? "We don't really look at Apple," said Gavin."

This is either a bald faced lie, or if taken at face value INCREDIBLY stupid and naive. OF COURSE every tech company should look at each other. If you don't, you'll definitely lose.

Definitely the former. As if Microsoft aren't looking at the competition.

 

[Sbu]

Microsoft office is the only thing I like from Microsoft company, as for OSes I prefer Mac OS and iOS any time of the day. Hardware from Apple is also superior in my point of view. Microsoft surface tablet is just a touch screen pc with detachable keyboard , it's not a tablet.

 

[Matt Leaf]

Apple know in their bones that incremental updates will always get them more sales than just blowing their whole farm all at once. Even the iPad Pro and its keyboard, it looks so silly compared to the Surface. The Surface is the better looking setup of the two. But mistakes at Apple are always refinements that can simply lead to more sales. Its the same in the iOS - they slowly inch there way toward giving it all the functionality of a desktop OS.

I'm still amazed no one has done a proper dual screen notebook tablet.

 

[Sevendaymelee]

The marketshare percentage between the two devices basically says otherwise.

 

[skaertus]

The marketshare percentage between the two devices basically says otherwise.

You cannot really compare.

The iPad runs iOS (which can only run on Apple devices) and is way cheaper then Surface. Surface is a computer that runs Windows and is pretty much expensive compare to its competitors.

The iPad was designed as a competitor to netbooks back in 2010. It was supposed to sell tens of millions, including for people in developing markets who could not afford a premium laptop.

The Surface was designed as a showcase of what Windows 8 could do back in 2012. Not a mass market product exactly.

 

[skaertus]

Upcoming Windows on ARM will kill the iPad Pro and some of the Macbooks. It also has the advantage of lower BOM cost by several hundred dollars. Wait for the comment at the end where she says it runs better with only 4GB DRAM than her Macbook (assuming 8GB).

This looks really great. Microsoft's strategy of having just one OS for all devices may be worth it in the near future.

Meanwhile, Apple is confusing me. First they had the desktop OS and the phone/tablet OS. Now the line is blur. iOS 11 gets macOS features. If the iPad does not end replacing the Mac, Apple may end up with two lines of computers (Lisa and Macintosh all over again?).

 

[The Game 161]

So when will they respond?

 

[Breaking Good]

Apple wants people to think they can use an iPad as a computer...

Attach a keyboard to an iPad and you have a slightly more convenient media consumption device, with easier email.

I agree with everything you said in your post. But the question is how many people just need a slightly more convenient media consumption device with easier email?

While I don't think it is anywhere near a majority, I do think it is a significant number.

I think that the iPad and the Surface are both excellent devices. But they are different types of devices and work for different groups of people.

 

[msavich]

I actually agree that the iPad Pro is a response to the Surface. And that's a great thing. It means that everyone's devices are getting better. Yeah the iPad was selling better than the Surface, but the Surface had a better narrative and an upwards sales trajectory. Apple is trying to capture that. Again, this is great news for everyone, especially since I doubt the iPad is about to kill the Surface anyway.

 

[notabadname]

'We don't really look at Apple"

Yeah, right.

 

[tech3475]

The tech industry has fed of each other and arguably it's for the better as devices such as the surface and ipad pro may not have existed otherwise.

It's why I find Apple's 'hatred' of Android and the like to be overall detrimental to the tech industry (bear in mind Apple have used concepts found in Android, etc.).

Personally, the surface is a better 'work' machine for me but then others may be fine with the ipad pro.

 

[cmaier]

Here's a news flash: I don't particularly give a rats ass what was in response to what. I'll use what I like and I like them both for different reasons
[doublepost=1497674482][/doublepost]
The Surface is most certainly NOT a copy of the iPad.

Disagree. Remember windows tablets before the iPad? I owned one. Yeesh, what crap.

 

[Naraxus]

It is a copy of the iPad. It's just a very bad copy of the iPad. It's not a good computer or a good tablet. It's not good at anything but it can in theory do everything.

A tablet with a crippled iOS vs a full OS is not what I would consider to be "copying"

 

[Kabeyun]

Way to go, MS! You've learned that if you repeat a lie often enough it rings true.

 

[Even Longer]

Surface a best-in-class laptop? Sheesh they have low standards in Redmond, don't they…

No. It's about their definition of class.

 

[epca12]

Upcoming Windows on ARM will kill the iPad Pro and some of the Macbooks. It also has the advantage of lower BOM cost by several hundred dollars. Wait for the comment at the end where she says it runs better with only 4GB DRAM than her Macbook (assuming 8GB).

No I think the iPad Pro has a different market with little overlap for Windows 10 devices, including the Microsoft Surface. But this makes me want to see Macos running on ARM, at least it means bootcamp will be possible

 

[nurban1992]

Apple and Microsoft have a fundamentally different philosophy regarding tablets and notebooks. Microsoft’s attempt at combining a mouse-and-keyboard desktop experience with a touch-based tablet experience doesn’t work, largely because there is a severe lack of optimization between the two.

Apple’s philosophy is to keep them separate, but approach productivity on iPad in a different way. You see, iOS 11 is STRONG evidence that they are rethinking and reworking the very concept of desktop-class usability in a way that is optimized from the ground up for touch-input. It builds off the idea that a mouse is not needed, because your finger IS the mouse. You do not need a pointer, because your finger interacts directly with the content on the screen. iOS 11 proves that this type of experience is possible, as it needs desktop-level usability: a Files managing app, drag and drop between applications, multiple select, robust multitasking, etc. It’s a bold step forward in the right direction for being productive using touch interaction.

Microsoft is taking the easy way out by just trying to slap these two different machines together as one. If it tries to be a desktop with touch input, then it’s failing at being an optimized desktop machine; if it tries to be a tablet with a desktop-like UX, then it’s failing at being an optimized tablet.

This difference is why the reviews have been so positive for these new iPad Pros. Because they boast the spec power of a laptop, with powerful optimization between the silicon and the software; and now iOS 11 provides the software usability designed for productivity. Undeniably, Apple is approaching this whole thing better than the competition, and the reviews and sales speak to that truth.

 

[skaertus]

Disagree. Remember windows tablets before the iPad? I owned one. Yeesh, what crap.

It is not a copy. Not a direct copy at least. When the iPad was released, several companies copied it and created their own tablets. Then Microsoft took several of these years ideas and created a tablet which turns into a laptop. It is a copy of the trend launched by Apple and not a copy of the iPad itself. Btw, Apple does this kind of thing as well.

 

[Aidyn's X]

Apple wants people to think they can use an iPad as a computer, yet they fail to create an OS (or use macOS) on an iPad Pro that is worthy of being a computer OS. Just because Apple says the iPad can replace a laptop, doesn't make it so. Apple doesn't really have a clue what Windows does and how people in businesses and mobile offices do if they say that. Heck, an iPad cannot even access a Windows file server or system!

Attach a keyboard to an iPad and you have a slightly more convenient media consumption device, with easier email.

While Apple would have you think the entire world are photographers and artists, the reality is the opposite. A neat iPad owner poll would be to ask what people primarily use their iPad for. I'm guessing it's not word processing, spreadsheets, accounting, scientific research/modeling, 3D Design, etc. The list goes on.

People need to stop comparing the iPad with a real computer.

This is a direct quote from TechCrunch on the new iPad Pro 10.5 with iOS 11 running on it in the fall:

"The iPad is a full-fledged computer, and you can argue against it but you’re going to increasingly sound like an idiot."

It's not just Apple saying it. People still continue to say that Macs aren't compatible with any software. People like to live in the past to make their points. This is the first time that I am excited for the iPad and what it can be. Before this I did not see the point if I already have a laptop. But now I am seeing how I can REPLACE my laptop completely as the years move forward. My father-in-law has a surface and I have used it several times. The way he uses it, it might as well be a desktop computer. It is constantly docked with an external monitor and keyboard and mouse. If you are going to use the surface as a laptop... just buy a laptop.

 

[TurboPGT!]

I realize I may get attacked in this forum for saying this, but you and many others here are missing the point. In 2012 when the first Surface came out, Microsoft was banking on the long-term market turning toward a productivity-focused, mobile, convertible touch device, complete with local file system and highlighting the ability of having keyboard/stylus/mouse input. Apple eschewed that idea, laughing at Microsoft and accusing them of building "refrigerator-toasters". They balked at the idea of making their iPad tablet like that, saying it was fundamentally what a tablet SHOULDN'T be.

Now 5 years later in 2017, they're pursuing that exact vision - the iPad is slowly being changed into a "refrigerator-toaster" itself, complete with local file system and highlighting keyboard/stylus input (they're still avoiding mouse - gotta try to save face somewhere). And they hope no one notices that they are following the real leader.

The fact that the iPad still enjoys a large customer loyalty base from its early days, guaranteeing significant sales, is irrelevant - Microsoft had the long-term vision right. Even if Apple wins the market, some of us will never forget the hubris of a company that will always have "refrigerator-toaster" egg on their face.

You're wrong. Apple has the vision correct: to start with the features that appealed to the widest user base, and slowly add niche features to bring in more smaller groups of users over time.

This isn't "in response" to anything, or anyone, it has what they've planned to do all along.