Microsoft Launches New Anti-iPad Surface 2 Ad Highlighting Kickstand and Multiple Accounts

[Blakjack]

These ads are very specific. Too specific. They sound very desperate. Microsoft needs to understand that it's less about what a device can or cannot do and more about how the device makes the consumer feel. These surface tabs are actually quite nice. They are very productive products, but if the company behind the product is yesterday's news, no one will care, especially when you have a whore OS in Android and the company that represents excellence and coolness in Apple.

 

[chr1s60]

Anyone else think the lady in the ad sounds kind of like the old Siri?

Congrats Microsoft, you successfully won over the 3 people in the world that don't have a towel or sink, but want a tablet for cooking purposes.

 

[LeFrancoy]

Exactly how many times have they done this? And did it work?

Yeah Einstein talked about that at some point... But then again, what else have they got to put forward?

 

[Marc-SP]

I think that expandable storage and removable batteries are overrated. But to most Android users I know, it is paramount. Its such an important thing, that the ones I know don't even have an SD card or an extra battery. When I ask "Why do you value a removable battery but not have spare?," the response is: "Because I need a way to reset the device when it locks up."

I don't know about android, but generally speaking I prefer removable batteries so I can buy a new one when the original can't hold so much power anymore due to age.

Yes, I don't buy a new phone/tablet/computer every year, and I am proud of it. I enjoy the good products I posses and don't worry about the letest "must have" features. Aside, electronic waste is a far bigger problem than you'd normally think.
I hope some day in the far future electronics reach a point where they are so advanced and durable that you can keep them for 10 or 20 years and still they can do all you need. No reason to upgrade or replace. Dreams...

 

[malexandria]

You are kidding right?

There's something completely different that these guys don't understand: You don't tell people what is supposedly bad about a competitors product. That doesn't make them want your product. If you want to succeed, you tell them what's good about your product. And even then, you tell them in terms that they understand and that make sense to them.

You are kidding right? Generally, I agree with your sentiment. But Apple built it's ENTIRE comeback on completely (and falsely) trashing Microsoft in those stupid, misleading Mac vs. PC ads.

 

[Marc-SP]

You still have iPads and did not switch to Surfaces, so apparently Apple doesn't really have a big problem at all.

Maybe due to ecosystem investment (apps, money, familiarity...) and/or fear of change (human nature prefers stand a bad, but still bearable, situation than risking to the "unkown", as it could be even worse).

 

[malexandria]

I think it's pretty obvious that the Surface "sucks" just by walking by it. Pretty much how I can tell that Whoopi Goldberg would be an awful girlfriend just by walking by her.

You'd be an awful boyfriend, just by reading your posts.

 

[Rogifan]

I'm sorry but Microsoft spends way too much time letting people know their tablets are good for "work". Most large companies are just now upgrading to Windows 7. By the the time they're ready to upgrade again Microsoft will be on Windows 10.

 

[NT1440]

You are kidding right? Generally, I agree with your sentiment. But Apple built it's ENTIRE comeback on completely (and falsely) trashing Microsoft in those stupid, misleading Mac vs. PC ads.

The mac did not build Apple into the behemoth it is today, that was the iPod and the iPhone.

You're right on the marketing. That said, at least the apple ads were amusing, the whole MS/Nokia line of ads really seem to miss the mark and are entirely misleading (who gives a **** about the surface keyboard when its an add on just like any iPad keyboard), grasping at straws sums it up nicely (no office?? MY GOD....coming soon to iOS).

 

[cammyg123]

I despise Microsoft.

I, personally speaking, am done hearing Microsoft bash and bash on everything a rival company "doesn't have" in their products and so on.

Clearly, as the numbers statistically show, Apple must be doing something right that Microsoft isn't, because the sales difference between iPad and Surface is off the charts. iPad blows it away.

So if I were Microsoft, instead of bashing others over and over again, how about find a way to sell your products. Until then, I am disgusted with this from Microsoft and thoroughly am wondering why they think doing this will help them sell products.

 

[Alphaforcex]

Apple will implement it on all iOS devices as soon as the iPad gets Touch ID. It's one of those areas in which we may have to wait a bit longer than users of certain competing platforms, but the solution will be quite elegant once it arrives.

That's one part of it. With multiple profiles, you will need to handle push notification a little differently. The OS will need to be smart enough to handle that while you are logged off.

 

[monaarts]

These commercials remind me of when I bought my car last year... After test driving a bunch of cars I decided I really liked the 2013 Honda Accord so I bought one brand new. Later that day I met a friend and he said "you should have just bought the Kia optima, it's a little cheaper and they say it drives just like a Honda Accord."

My response was "why would I want something that's LIKE an Accord when I could get the Accord? A little money isn't going to make me cut corners."

 

[MacMulti]

Apple certainly has room to cover on the multiple accounts feature. It is a triumph when integrated with touch id. We may see it coming. Hope to see the base ram and storage increase too.

 

[Renzatic]

I love the idea of the Surface Pro 2... a laptop and tablet in one.

But where it all falls apart for me is the tiny 10.6" screen.

The screen is fine on the tablet side... but on the laptop side it's pretty small.

13.3" is about as small as I could go on something that is supposed to be my daily computer. I guess my ideal combo would be a traditional laptop/ultrabook and a mini tablet.

I know they are two separate devices... but they are both best suited for what they are supposed to be.

That's one of the two problems I still have with the Pro. A touch based UI is fine for a screen that size, but since you're gonna be using desktop applications more often than not, it'll feel a little cramped. You can remedy it to a point, but it'll never feel quite right on a 10 inch screen.

I would agree with you about using a 13" screen instead, but MS still needs to make the Pro lighter before they go about making it larger. It works for the future potential iPad Pro because, since the Air came out, the iPad is already about as light as you could ask for. They could increase the size of it, and still not be much heavier than the old iPad 3/4. The Surface Pro 2? It's already 2 pounds. That's just a tad bit too heavy for a tablet these days. Any bigger than that, and it just won't be pleasant to use for anything besides an ultrabook.

Yeah, I'd say we're still in the 'tween stages for the future of tablets, where you have to accept convenience over power, or vice versa. Thing is, with the iPad Pro maybe coming out, I actually think Apple might reach the happy medium I'm wanting before MS does.

 

[Mr.Scarface]

Keep ****ing that Chicken, Microsoft. May get you somewhere....

 

[roland.g]

Parental Controls

While Monitoring I suspect is an issue for those with older kids, I will say the implementation of parental controls / restrictions in iOS is horrible.

I have a 4 and 6 year old. We want to load kid friendly games and educational apps onto an iPad for them as well as movies, but allow movies when we load them. We also want to be able to pick it up and quickly use Safari to search the web. In the current iOS implementation, I must restrict access to both Safari and Videos and then enable them when I quickly want to check the web, or turn on a movie for them. However, when I am done, I have to re-enable the restrictions. This is a multistep process on both ends. It would be much simpler to allow designated apps to be accessed via a passcode. Then I could launch Safari, enter the passcode and surf, and when I exit Safari, it would be locked again. Same with Movies. Launch a movie, and when it ends, lock the videos app. However, Apple wants you to buy an iPad for yourself and one for your kids. And either give them access to movies all the time or have a multistep process to enable and re-restrict access.

And of course both the Mac, and iOS are not well designed for family and multi-user access. Neither are Apple IDs for purchased content, and iCloud for Photo Streams. My wife has her own iCloud account which syncs her mail and own Photo Stream (which only syncs to well - nothing). And my main account is where the main Photo Stream is as well as all our Contacts. So I have a 2nd iCloud account - mine - set up on her phone, just to sync contacts, music, and app purchases. However, this makes the phone think that she is me, even though it is a 2ndary iCloud account and not used for Mail. So if she says to Siri, "text my husband", it gets confused because it thinks she wants to text herself.

 

[Tech198]

here's another one...

The Ad's may be too specific, but they are dead right..

I hate to say it, Particularly this one with the kickstand....

Apple just does it "different"

Whats so bad about that... Apple's not targeting these anyway, and the Ad's only further hype it all up....

It's like a big bully at school, and Gates is picking on me.

 

[OC40]

Aren't the car analogies getting a little old by now? They never made much sense before, and they don't make sense now. All they do is scratch that "I like to own nice German luxury cars" itch because some people think it makes them look cooler while they swirl their snifter of grape juice in front of the TV with the fake fireplace DVD on loop.

Let me tell you right now. There's no such thing as a BMW tablet. They're all Hondas. Every single last one. You can convince yourself you're buying a Benz, but you're buying a Honda. Apple tablets are expensive Hondas, MS tablets are midline-expensive, and lower end Android tablets are Civics.

I wouldn't necessarily call BMW "luxury" and I don't swirl grape juice. Red wine (triple check), bourbon (double check) and scotch (check). Oh, and I don't have a fake fireplace DVD on loop because who watches DVD's anymore (obsolete five years ago chum)?

I fixed your sentence:
Apple tablets are Acura's, MS tablets are Accord's, and Android tablets are Civic's.

 

[ltownbrown]

Not the same playing field

The iPad & Surface are not on the same playing field. The reason I say this is because the Surface runs a full desktop version of Windows 8 which makes it a Tablet PC as opposed to a mobile device like the iPad. So while the Surface 2 has multi-tasking & multi-user features that any regular PC has, the iPad was never intended to have these features, because the iPad was never intended to be a PC replacement device like the Surface 2. The truth of the situation is that Microsoft's mobile platform sucked so much on the 1st generation Surface that they said to hell with it and opted to go with the desktop version on the 2nd generation.

 

[OC40]

I'm sorry but Microsoft spends way too much time letting people know their tablets are good for "work". Most large companies are just now upgrading to Windows 7. By the the time they're ready to upgrade again Microsoft will be on Windows 10.

I agree, though, MS will be on Windows 17.5 by the time we ready to upgrade to Windows 8.

 

[sbb155]

funny

Funny how people here say the ipad can do everything the surface does. Not true. For corporate use, seamless editing and compatibility with MS word, excel, and powerpoint are essential. Cost, is irrelevant.

I own all generations of the ipad. It doesnt come close for WORK to the surface. Surface and office are seamless.

I use ipad for light surfing, entertainment, apps. I use my surface pro 2 for MS office compatibility. The ipad cant compete with that in my center.

your corporation may differ. I reach for the surface for work. I reach for my retina mini for entertainment and personal use. Email is equal between the 2.

 

[NT1440]

Funny how people here say the ipad can do everything the surface does. Not true. For corporate use, seamless editing and compatibility with MS word, excel, and powerpoint are essential. Cost, is irrelevant.

I own all generations of the ipad. It doesnt come close for WORK to the surface. Surface and office are seamless.

I use ipad for light surfing, entertainment, apps. I use my surface pro 2 for MS office compatibility. The ipad cant compete with that in my center.

your corporation may differ. I reach for the surface for work. I reach for my retina mini for entertainment and personal use. Email is equal between the 2.

I find it funny that MS is pushing so hard with this "it doesn't have office!" line when it is well known that they are writing an iOS office suite. I wonder how they will promote it once they release it?

 

[Rad99004]

These ads are tiring.

If anything the ads will speed up needed and wanted features for IOS.

Other missing features:

One finger swiping for going forward and back on webpages like Safari/Surface.

Top sites like safari.

Multiple apps on screen at the same time like surface/Android.

 

[a0me]

Multiple accounts. The winning feature for me. iOS should have had support for them ages ago. (And on screen multitasking).

I hope this is something Apple is working on and maybe Touch ID is one step in that direction. This would solve the problem of switching elegantly between users.
The question is then how, for example, would notifications be handled in that scenario.

 

[diazj3]

I agree that multi-user would be great.

Although, I don't think it's "simple" but it's certainly not outside of their wheel house. iOS is very single-user based though, how would push notifications work with multi-user? And notification center on the home screen. Is there a sense of logging out? Are notifications and the notification center just not present when the last user has logged out? Are all apps installed for all users? What about media? What happens when you open Control Center from the lock screen and take a picture? What camera roll does it save to? Whose Clock app is opened? Is DND a device setting or user setting?

There are likely hundreds of little nuances like this that need to be considered. And the whole login/logout concept is very desktop oriented. iOS devices are meant to be switched on and ready to go with all of your latest updates waiting for you, or notifying you that something you're interested in has happened. This all becomes very muddled when you introduce multiple users.

Not really... simple: it would work the same way it works with OS X... notifications, available apps, media, camera roll, etc. The logged in user has privileges only for the files and apps, and accounts, it manages. If logged out of all accounts, and the lock screen comes into effect, the notifications and camera are not available until someone logs in.

Of course there are a few hurdles - starting with the device space management.... but that would be a selling point for apple to sell higher capacity, more expensive, ipads.

This could (and almost certainly will) be implemented - imagine to be able to share your iPad or Phone with someone (kids specially) giving them access only to their games and certain shared apps, without the fear of them disconfiguring your iOS device, erasing emails, etc? monitor their usage for security? Instead of every member of the family having to have their own device with them all the time? and how about a shared ipad that is only used to couch surfing? the benefits for consumers are huge.

Personally, I wish apple would ease up a little when it comes to chaining customers to their ideas - this "personal" philosophy to justify selling one iDevice per person; the use of external storage (SD cards, USB connectivity)... the way tablets are being developed, if they don't implement a more open usage of their devices, they will start losing market share to manufacturers that do let their customers use the is tablets in a more sophisticated way - connecting 2nd displays, USB file reading multi users, etc).

cheers!