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

[MrX8503]

The iPad Pro is a stellar tablet that just so happens to do some basic laptop stuff. Checking email, social media, photos, and videos. For casual users, this can replace a laptop.

The Surface Pro is neither a great laptop nor a great tablet. It's an ok laptop and an ok tablet, which is what a refrigerator and toaster would be.

 

[StevieD100]

Surface is best.it runs a full computer operating system.The iPad runs a baby OS

Surface runs a full computer operating system that sends pretty well everything you do to the Mothership at Redmond. It also forces you to take updates when MS want them and not when it suits you. Many updates remove user specific customisations

There fixed it for you. I could go on for several pages but I won't. I ditched Windows 10 as soon as I could. Only last week, I turned down a short contract (6-8 weeks) because I'd be forced to used W10. The manager sighed when I said that W7 would be perfect. He knew W10 is a lemon but his hands were tied.

 

[rauls4]

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… hold on a sec… ha ha ha!

 

[HurtinMinorKey]

Lol they are utterly deluded if they think that. It's closer that the Surface was the answer to Apple's iPad, after years and years of failed attempts into the touchscreen market since at least Windows XP. Then Apple reminded people that tablets will sell, providing you make something that isn't a piece of junk, so MS doubled their efforts and eventually made something that was worth purchasing.

XP tablets were crap. Win 7 touchscreen/tablets were rubbish, Windows 8 was a confused joke. Windows RT was a pathetic attempt at iOS, which was almost immediately discontinued as a final FU to those unlucky enough to have purchased one. Good thing they convinently forgot about all that before nursing their ego about their fabulous foresight.

Look at them touting themselves as visionary market leaders. What an absolute crock. Even on its best day, the Surface Pro is the epitome of "Jack of all trades". You can't use it just with the touchscreen because the interface is abysmal. Windows wasn't designed to be used with a finger, it was designed for a mouse and keyboard.

They haven't addressed any of the fundamental UI flaws with Windows 10; adding touchscreen elements as they currently have just makes a further confused and Frankensteined operating system.

I would put it somewhat differently. The Surface was a successful response to the iPad in that it made Apple try to come up with a response of their own. The iPad Pro is a type of response, but it remains to be seen if it will facilitate a new response from Microsoft.

At this point it doesn't really look like it. Since the iPad Pro doesn't really innovate much. IMO, the fact that it is still bound to iOS really kills it.

 

[Red Oak]

Just wait until these cohorts of young iPhone users needs to buy a computer. They are going to buy iPads, Mac or potentially Chrome books. Microsoft is on borrowed time

Their smugness is comical considering how they totally, utterly blew it with mobile phones

 

[Fuzzball84]

Ofcourse the iPad pro was in response to the surface pro, but apple would never ever ever accept this

Just like when they say smaller tablets are no good and then release the mini, that 9.7 inch is perfect! But a few years later and only the budget iPad 2017 is 9.7 inch

Just like when they say the finger is the best stylus... oh wait we invented a pencil

Just like the phones were the best size, oh wait lets make big and bigger ran out of ideas and rereleased the 5S as the SE (which I actually appreciated but wish they had put some effort into the design, its a great phone and actually fits in smaller pockets)

Just like when they said a 2 in 1 is no good and who wants to reach and touch the screen, oh wait the iPad Pro which is a 2 in 1 and has no convenient pointing device (it may appear in version 4, as a differentiator to version 3 to increase sales... thats what I'd do to milk the cows)

They even put a huge amount of resources into a trash can and forgot about the thermals, doh at least they admitted it, but it has to be one of the greatest cock ups of the past ten years.

I have lots of apple products but the company is up itself half the time (its actually very off-putting) Still, good times if you are an investor or just buy it at the time it suits your needs.

 

[Freida]

the surface pro and the surface book in particular is a much better corporate device. there are people switching to them over laptops. an ipad pro is still a complimentary device. that's the truth. iOS is very limiting. great for an iPad but i wish they had gone mac os for the pro version.

totally agree. iPad Pro is great but its still behind. Files was a huge step but its still not there yet. There needs to be a pro that allows full blown macos.
You just can't load up zbrush on an ipad pro yet you have this amazing potential with the pencil etc.

Surface is just better for that thing. iPad is still a toy that relies on developers to port their apps. No app = no fun (see zbrush, still no iOS support)

 

[Ursadorable]

How can Microsoft laughably compare the Surface to the iPad. One runs iOS, the other Windows. It's like comparing Apples to *coughs* lemons. They're not even in the same class and have completely different purposes.

 

[akadafni]

Microsoft executive Ryan Gavin this week suggested Apple released the iPad Pro in response to its Surface devices, per Business Insider.

"When Surface initially launched, everyone was skeptical, including them," said Gavin, general manager of Surface commercial devices at Microsoft. "And then they followed, and the iPad Pro is a clear example of that."

Microsoft positions the latest Surface Pro, released on Thursday, as a "best-in-class laptop" with the "versatility of a studio and tablet."

The new Surface Pro features Intel's latest Kaby Lake processors and up to 13.5 hours of battery life on a single charge. The tablet-notebook hybrid can be configured with up to a 1TB SSD, up to 16GB RAM, and up to Intel Iris Plus 640 graphics, with a USB 3.0 port, microSD card reader, and Mini DisplayPort.

During a 2012 earnings call, when asked to comment on why the MacBook Air and iPad would not eventually converge, Apple CEO Tim Cook argued that combining the products would result in compromises.

"You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator but those won't be pleasing to the user," said Cook, a comment that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella poked fun at four years later, alluding to the iPad Pro.

"I mean, take even Surface," said Nadella, speaking to The Australian Financial Review. "Three years ago, the two-in-one as a form factor was questioned. Does anybody need one? And now guess what, even our competition has decided that it's not a refrigerator and a toaster but it's actually a two-in-one."

While the iPad and Mac remain two fundamentally different products, the iPad Pro is Apple's closest attempt at a two-in-one hybrid device.

Apple released the original iPad Pro with a large 12.9-inch display and Smart Keyboard in November 2015, over three years after Microsoft launched its first Surface tablet with a 10.6-inch display and detachable keyboard.

In contrast, the Surface was arguably Microsoft's response to the iPad as a whole. Apple's tablet launched in early 2010, and the Surface arrived in late 2012.

Cook has said the iPad Pro is a notebook or desktop computer replacement for "many, many people," adding that "they will start using it and conclude they no longer need to use anything else, other than their phones."

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

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

"We don't really look at Apple". LOL. Microsoft Zune anyone? Just saying.....

 

[oneMadRssn]

XP tablets were crap.

I had a Toshiba convertible laptop with Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Considering the year was 2004, I would not say it was crap. It was pretty awesome for 2004. Apple's best innovation that year was adding the click-wheel to the iPod.

Meanwhile I had a relatively small and light computer, for the time, that had a keyboard but could go into tablet-only mode, which I could write on and it would automatically convert my handwritten notes into searchable text in the background, which I could draw on using it's pressure sensitive screen that recreated paint brush and color pencil effects very well, on which I could use to browse the internet wirelessly in portrait mode, which could run every Windows app including full MS Office, which had about 3-4 hours of battery life, and which still had a discrete nVidia graphics chip capable of running Half Life 2 on high settings.

Apple wasn't able to achieve most of those features for over a decade, and wasn't able to achieve all of those features just until last year.

I'm not saying Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is better than the iPad. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition was way ahead of it's time.

While the handwriting recognition and text-entry was pretty good, the UI itself was not optimized for touch at all and thus was a pain to use sometimes. Also the price of most convertible laptops was way too high: $1500+ for a convertible laptop when a similarly spec'ed non-convertible laptop was under $1000, and the netbook craze was just around the corner. Finally, battery life was not great because battery technology wasn't quite there yet and Intel wasn't really focused on optimizing their CPUs for good battery life at that time.

 

[MrX8503]

Microsoft's Surface Line is actually incredibly beautiful, and since they use Magnesium over Aluminum it feels better to touch and rest your hand on.

It looks good, but Apple's at the tippy top when it comes to aesthetics. Apple's aluminum feels better IMO. I haven't felt the latest Surfaces, but the uh....surface of it felt rough.

The brand is on par with Apple, ....

No

....but unlike Apple the Microsoft CEO has a vision of connecting people not devices.

No. Apple's services has been expanding. Look at their quarterly financials for services.

Tim Cook's vision is similar to how Balmer ran Microsoft.

No. Ballmer decided to buy Nokia and made a $7-8B mistake.

Honestly I never thought I'd say this, but Microsoft is the Apple of the 90's and Apple is the Microsoft of the 90's. Apple hasn't innovated recently, they've followed trend. Hopefully the iPhone 8 breaks that tradition. They've made weird business decisions as well.

Don't feel that at all. AirPods, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, IMO there isn't another company that can compete in their respective markets.

I honestly like both companies, but the iPad Pro is a giant iPad with better specs to compete with a 2-in-1. The commercials even say it: "I need a new gaming laptop." The iPad Pro is the answer according to Apple's commercial.

With iOS11 on the iPad Pro, it's going to decimate the casual market.

 

[Ghost31]

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

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

Yes. Which is exactly why MICROSOFT IS COMMENTING ON THE IPAD RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND. Did we forget what we were reading?

And let's be completely real here. If you're a big company and you're not looking at a top player in the industry like apple, your head is in the sand and you're gonna fail. Every company builds off the ideas of others. It's just how it works. But for a company to deny they...have eyes? Wow Microsoft. Look at you being so original!

 

[mudflap]

When the iPhone came out it was because several technologies became barely mature enough to do it in volume. You may recall it was released at one price and shortly thereafter reduced $100 due to consumer feedback. 2G EDGE too.

Sidenote: When they announced the price cut I emailed Steve Jobs with a short, polite note asking him if that's the thanks us early-adopters were to expect for essentially beta testing the original iPhone for him. A few weeks later Apple sent me a $100 gift card. I had already loved Apple since 1982 but that cemented the whole deal for me.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

As a laptop replacement, I think the Surface still wins at the moment due to its ability to run any windows program: Apple are certainly pushing the iPad Pro forwards but for a lot of people the option to replace their laptop with one simply isn't there due to the limitations of of iOS

As a tablet, however, the iPad is so far ahead of Surface it's unreal - Windows on a tablet interface is a very suboptimal experience (I speak from the experience of having had a Surface Pro, Surface Pro 2 and Surface Book)

For me, this is a quandary that will probably never be resolved: I can't do without a laptop class machine as I'm a developer and I can't ever see Apple turning the iPad Pro into a true laptop machine (it's simply not their vision for the future of computing for the masses), so for the foreseeable future I'll keep both around

When you say "Because of the limitations of iOS", you forget the fact that, at its heart, iOS runs the same Darwin Kernel as macOS, and there are MANY more similarities than differences between the two OSes. So, any perceived "limitations" are only there because Apple (wisely) decided that Tablets and Desktop/Laptop computers are actually two different use-cases, and trying to "train-wreck" the two paradigms together (which is precisely what MS has done) results in an OS that isn't a good Tablet OS, and isn't a good Desktop OS (hmmm. Sound familiar?).

 

[Scottsoapbox]

I mean sure, I can see the iPad Pro being a response to the Surface, but more iPads are sold in a single quarter than all Surfaces combined. Let's not act like Microsoft is winning this game.

Now compare the number of iPads used as a primary computer...

Now remove professional bloggers from that number...

 

[robeddie]

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

The first of many anti microsoft comments from miopic ipad users who think anything apple does is the best ever

 

[Edsel]

Windows 10 has improved tremendously since it was first introduced. It adapts to the hardware in a way iOS and OSX has not. I can run the current release of Windows 10 on a 6 year old Lenovo i5-2400 powered notebook and it won't petrify the poor thing. The GUI's between the Surface and other brand notebooks and desktops are identical - unlike Apple's iOS and OSX products.

Don't be fooled and lulled into thinking Microsoft produces 2nd rate products. They are a far cry from the stagnant Ballmer days.

 

[mazz0]

Well, duh. I don't see how anyone can disagree with MS on this one.

I just wish Apple would get full version of pro apps on iPad, eg XCode and Photoshop.

 

[Michael Goff]

The first of many anti microsoft comments from miopic ipad users who think anything apple does is the best ever

You don’t have to be Anti Microsoft to know they have to have lowered their standards and basically ignored the competition to say the Surface team created the best in class laptop.

 

[DaveOP]

The first of many anti microsoft comments from miopic ipad users who think anything apple does is the best ever

No, we just have used Windows Laptops that are far better than the Surface Pro. Dell XPS, Thinkpad T Series come to mind.

 

[Rogifan]

Uh oh. Many long time MR readers heads will explode at this one. My how times have changed.

Except every time they announce new hardware the only thing they compare it to are Macs or iPads.

 

[0003939]

Microsoft, of course, the iPad Pro couldn't rival the Surface Pro. The Surface Pro has a 1TBGB worth of storage capacity!

Source: https://twitter.com/JonyIveParody/status/867037979633758208

 

[Phil A.]

When you say "Because of the limitations of iOS", you forget the fact that, at its heart, iOS runs the same Darwin Kernel as macOS, and there are MANY more similarities than differences between the two OSes. So, any perceived "limitations" are only there because Apple (wisely) decided that Tablets and Desktop/Laptop computers are actually two different use-cases, and trying to "train-wreck" the two paradigms together (which is precisely what MS has done) results in an OS that isn't a good Tablet OS, and isn't a good Desktop OS (hmmm. Sound familiar?).

Nope, I didn't forget what iOS runs at its heart - it's largely irrelevant though because the limitations are there, are real and are likely to stay there for the foreseeable future.

I didn't say that's a bad thing, just that for some people the laptop will not be going anywhere for a long time because they need to do stuff on their computer that iOS will probably never allow them to

 

[macTW]

"Three years ago, the two-in-one as a form factor was questioned. Does anybody need one? And now guess what, even our competition has decided that it's not a refrigerator and a toaster but it's actually a two-in-one."

Uhm.... he better get his facts straight. Apple and most people don't think a 2-in-1 is a good idea. We don't touch laptop screens. And don't want to.

 

[Rogifan]

Honestly, yes, that is how it looks. Lagging iPad sales, complains the iPad is a content, not creation device. Maybe Apple had the Pro in the test kitchen well before the Surface but the appearance does look like Apple was playing catch up here. Now whether the Surface is a better device than the Pro, different story. Certainly MS seems a bit scared by the 10.5 or they wouldn't have even acknowledged its existance.

Catch up to what? Macs that Apple already sells? It's not like Surface invented drag and drop or windowing. If anything Apple had to wait for their chip technology to become good enough to support more advanced features.