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Microsoft Releases New Anti-iPad Ad Highlighting Surface Accessories

This is not a good ad. The other one was better.
This one's message seems to be:

Look how complicated we are compared to the competition!

USB thingies?!? I would not brag about that. The iPad has iCloud. Surface RT has sneaker-net 2.0. Oh boy.

Showing the keyboard implies it needs a keyboard. Showing the kickstand implies it needs a keyboard and mouse. These are not good things. They are making it look like it's half a laptop, not a good tablet.

(Then again, there's not much they can really do in an ad. It's just not a very good tablet. Poor screen, sluggish, weak battery, no apps... what's to like? $500 was absurd. Even at $350, it's not really competitive.)
 
magiic said:
Microsoft needs to focus on telling people why they should buy a Surface and not why they should not buy an iPad.
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This is a great point and like Marketing 101.

I have never personally agreed with advertising that includes focusing on a direct competitor. Sell me on why I can't possibly live without your product because it has the ability to do X, Y and Z - not pique my interest in a competitors product by directly attacking it.
 
I have a cheap tablet with an USB port and I kind of like having it. I can easily put big files like movies and large PDF files on a USB stick and read it with my tablet. For the rest, this definitely wasn't their best ad.
 
I have to admit to being a little intrigued by the Surface at this price point. Since work has forced me back into the world of Windows, I actually don't hate it as much as I thought I did. Even Win 8 is not too bad.

As for people stating this is where the Surface should have started at this price point, I have to disagree. MS needed to at least attempt to give the impression that they had a comparable product to the iPad.

Apple has set the standard in terms of margin when it comes to tech (although with a retail expert at the helm, that margin seems to be shrinking), and by coming out of the gates $250 lower than an overpriced iPad (I own 3) they would have shot themselves in the foot out of the gate. Now, that being said they should have done this sooner when units weren't flying off the shelves :)
 
ImageWrangler said:
.....This said I've an iPad 1 and a iPad Mini 1 and they connect with my family's Mac eco system exceedingly well, it's not like I'll be running off to buy a Surface any time soon. I'm just saying, these aren't that bad to counter those maybe hating on them instantly for being Microsoft, which is still understandable reaction considering their track record.
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Expect irrational hate and loathing here sometimes, towards anything non-APPLE, from some quarters.

ImageWrangler said:
I'm probably in the minority but I actually like the surface and yes, I'm an Apple fanboy. But it's really the clean interface that draws me in a bit, it's intriguing in once you get it you get it and most the things you want are right there at your fingertips. Honestly Windows 8 and it's tablet equivalent are the first original things Microsoft has done in... uh, probably ever as they've not usually an original idea in their vacuous collective heads and in the past every single thing was a ripoff, mostly from Apple. But their OS is in fact different as opposed to Android and the other as ran blatant iOS ripoffs, for that they seriously deserve some credit... and I can't believe I'm actually typing that but it's true.....
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While not planning to buy one myself, I too think the Surface is at least visually, a strikingly beautiful product. I'm surprised they're not selling more of them, especially to those firmly in the wintel camp.

Perhaps because one of it's weaknesses is still the fact that it's a tablet trying to be a PC, in other words, not optimized for either category, thus not pleasing either type of user. Lowering the price by 30%, is a bit of a psychological downward spiral. Makes one wonder, how committed they are to the Surface, or if perhaps they're just cutting their losses?
 
The old Mac vs PCs ads reversed. Microsoft is now the underdog (in the tablet market) and it shows.

It's a good and probably affective ad imo. Especially with the new price sticker shown at the end.
 
HenryDJP said:
The Mac vs. PC ads weren't exactly negative. They were pointing out the real problems the end user deals with in regards Windows. Anyone (except the ultra smart people on this forum who pretend to never experience issues with their PC :rolleyes:) using a Windows machine full time KNOWS Apple wasn't lying and it was very effective in the switching campaign.
I don't think people were having too much of an issue with the lack of a built-in USB port on the iPad. If so it would be near the same place where the Surface will be soon, sleeping with the fishes. :)
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Right on regarding the Mac vs. PC commercials. Comparing these ads to those is completely wrong. Go back and look at the Mac vs. PC commercials and tell me that any of them were inaccurate in any way. These commercials just smack of desperation.
 
sza said:
$349 is reasonable price for that ****.
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No, it's not, may $99.

Surface RT sucks!

Surface Pro is great and the only reason is because of the Desktop and legacy support.

Metro is terrible.
 
Someone should make a response commercial/video that shows the iPad pulling up the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of apps that it runs that the Surface/Windows 8 does not.

They could have the surface keep saying "I don't do that" over and over until the blue screen of death appears.
 
I Love my iPad and Siri. This is getting pretty old Microsoft. SIRI is awesome. Apple should make one of these of wait they can't because Surface doesn't have a voice assist haha that would be funny. :apple::apple::apple::apple::apple:
 
macs4nw said:
Expect irrational hate and loathing here sometimes, towards anything non-APPLE, from some quarters.



While not planning to buy one myself, I too think the Surface is at least visually, a strikingly beautiful product. I'm surprised they're not selling more of them, especially to those firmly in the wintel camp.
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The problem is intel - it completely screwed Windows 8 tablets out the gate.

I'm not sure the decision to go ARM, but even future win 8 tablets like the Samsung Ativ Tab 3 are running on the atom z2760 chip that many feel is vastly underpowered.

So maybe MS went to ARM because intel wasn't able to deliver and they had to. Or maybe MS went to ARM because intel didn't want to deliver and they wanted to, I'm sure this is the root of Win RT.

On the PRO, it's an awesome machine except it also has an Intel problem - the powerhungry i5. You simply can't have that low battery life on a tablet.

If MS can deliver some Haswell i3 or i5 tablets (and don't F#&K it up by killing the 1080p and Wacom), it solves a lot of problems for business, education and occasional travelers, and should fly off the shelves.
 
macs4nw said:
As ads go, this is not a bad ad persé, as it points out some advantages of the Surface, without mentioning it's shortcomings, one of which is it's non-optimized OS, but it could be less about knocking down the competition, see also magiic below.



Precisely!

I also agree with those who have said that MICROSOFT's use of that ever-cocky Siri in those ads, may not be helping the Surface.
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The problem with the ad is that, except for the USB and price, the other features mentioned like keyboard and stand are already available for the iPad. The USB can be a selling point for some, but as MS should've seen from the Android camp, it's not a feature that will sway many away from the iPad.
 
regarding Siri

phpmaven said:
Then I'm afraid you have no idea how to use it.
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I have been to Apple. No possibility of dealing with the issue there due to the noise level. The store is high energy and I do enjoy that. The Genius Bar really can't try to work on this one unfortunately.

Originally I wrote Siri off as a novelty feature to be further refined on future updates. A friend with an iPhone uses hers for everything. First smartphone for her and Siri works well. She asks me questions constantly about how to use her iPhone. That's when I realized there is some issue and went to Apple.

I have tried many times. "what is the current temperature?" that was yesterday. The response was "I don't know what you mean, Susan"

Just one example. I ruled out hardware by using a voice recording app and there is not problem with that. Very clear and easy to understand.

A poster in the Apple Support Communities suggested that I reset all setting. That was effective if I was in a completely quiet room (home alone) for a day or so. By the time I got the setting back as I prefer Siri was back with the "I don't know what you mean, Susan".

I particularly do not appreciate the snarky remarks that program makes when it is unable to perform.

My most recent post on the Apple Support Community is asking how to disable. It is annoying to hear the how may I help you if I touch the home button a nanosecond to long.

Sometimes things just don't work.
 
trauncher said:
Art Scholl (a famous aerobatic pilot) always said that when he died, he wanted to die "Full Throttle, pulling back on the stick, with both feet on the dashboard". That is exactly what Microsoft is doing.

Full throttle... both feet on the dashboard... straight down.

Perhaps this is why...
Click to expand...

Ironically Microsoft can't do that because the Flight Simulator was one of the first products they ruined.
 
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