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All iPads Where is Apple's rebuttal to Microsoft Surface?

Tsepz said:
I'd love Apple to,atleast show some effort. I'm not expecting a SP3 type device, but at least give us an iPad made for power users with 3GB RAM, Split Screen multitasking, MicroSD support, MicroUSB 3.0 and a stylus.... Or atleast give us a decent pair of headphones with the iPad, at the very least.
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Your points are all valid but you have to keep in mind one thing. How many "power users" do you truly think there are going to be in regards to using a tablet? That was rhetorical so no need for a defined answer. The Surface Pro 3 keynote made it seem like the masses would need those functions but truthfully it ain't so. Those are niche features for a niche product for niche customer.

There's not enough of the masses that needs a product with all those features and come on man, no matter what pair of "decent" headphones Apple gives with the iPad most people will end up using their own. Is it really that important to get a pair of headphones in the box with your tablet?
 
What does Apple need to "compete" with? The iPad still sells more than twice as well as the next best selling tablet, MacBooks continue to make marketshare gains despite the overall laptop/desktop market declining.....

I think Apple hasn't released a "rebuttal" because there's no reason for them to. The Mac has never been stronger and the iPad dominates the tablet space. Why hurt both of those by introducing a hybrid?

Which, by the way, not everyone wants.....personally, I think the idea of the hybrid is ridiculous. Write more powerful apps/software for the iPad. It's hardware is already farther ahead than the software it runs.....

Give me an iPad that can run "desktop-like" programs and THERE'S your "rebuttal".

Even so - my iPad is my go-to for 99.5% of things I need a computer for. And I think the iPad is more than capable of handling the general public's computing needs.
 
Kariya said:
Apple's rebuttal is an iPad with Office 365 and the BT keyboard. Or a MBA.
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oops, where's the pen interface? most pen users on this forum have probrably spent a considerable amount of time and money to find a stylus solution to the ipad. but there isn't any, really.
 
960design said:
I agree, mostly. Microsoft has stepped up its game; unfortunately it's still playing the wrong one. My company cannot afford to pay for subscription based software
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Your company isn't doing much contract work--as nearly every contract i've exchanged is in word. No knock on you--but you are an outlier
 
This surface thing isnt selling beczuse its in no way a competition to the ipad.
Bad, bad battery life. Heavy. and of course: windows :(
 
Meister said:
This surface thing isnt selling beczuse its in no way a competition to the ipad.
Bad, bad battery life. Heavy. and of course: windows :(
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Actually, from what I've read on the 3, the battery life is pretty good - 9 hours. Which puts it 3 short of the MBA.
 
The Surface 3 is a huge improvement on the form factor, but until Microsoft makes it genuinely better than the alternative of a laptop and a tablet, it isn't going anywhere other than a niche. The thing is, I think they could do this relatively easily with two relatively simple things. One, give people the option of a REAL keyboard accessory that turns the device into a typical clamshell ultrabook. I have a SP1, and I have several keyboards for my iPad. The one with the best experience by far is the one I have for my iPad that turns it into a clamshell.

Two, make the touch side of Windows 8 compelling. Right now the mail and browser apps are terrible (mostly by virtue of them being completely isolated from the same apps you have to set up on the desktop side) and the App Store has none of the apps that people want. This should be a relatively straightforward fix for a company like Microsoft, but we are a couple of years in and it has hardly changed.

With those changes, some people will converge on a single device. I'm not sure if I would even still though. I mean, really, what's the big deal about having two devices? I've been traveling internationally for over 10 years, and in that time I have gone from a carry-on bag that was bulging to one that is nearly empty. My ultrabook and iPad are the only things in it. The iPad serves as my reading and leisure device, and that's always going to be better at a size that's smaller than is ideal for my laptop. I'm in NO hurry to converge devices; the two of them together are a couple of pounds less than my laptop of 5 years ago and the iPad/iPhone has displaced books, magazines, newspapers, my journal, my media player, my camera, etc. I've dropped 10lbs from my bag already. I'm really in no hurry to drop 1 more.
 
Kariya said:
Apple's rebuttal is an iPad with Office 365 and the BT keyboard. Or a MBA.

To me Surface is still a solution looking for a problem.
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As someone who has owned iPads since day-1 (currently using a 64GB iPad4) and owned a Surface RT and now Surface 2, I can say from first-hand experience that the only thing holding the Surface 2 back from replacing my iPad and netbook, is the continued lack of quality apps.

The irony in Surface ownership is that it supports a wide-variety of hardware use cases but is greatly hampered by the lack of software to exploit it.

One example: I love the ability to directly attach my Blue Yeti microphone to the Surface, have it recognized, and simply work. The problem: There is no quality software available (Modern UI) for podcast production. On the flipside, I got tired of using a powered USB hub and camera connection kit with my iPad4, and bought a Samson Go Mic (which IS directly supported) and use Boss Jock Studio for podcast production.

I have quite a few more scenarios like that.

When I need to give a presentation, I can plug in the Targus presentation remote receiver into the Surface's USB port and control powerpoint with it.

On the iPad, my only option is to use my iPhone to control Keynote which is not desirable as it is larger to hold and difficult to maneuver without looking at the iPhone's screen.

Odds are, that Apple has nothing to worry about. Microsoft has a long track record of a short commitment to their products. They'll probably end up discontinuing the Surface before there is a critical mass of touch-optimized software available.

But if Microsoft DOES manage to get that critical mass, Apple will probably need to respond at that point... and not before. Just like Apple waited until there was a plethora of 7" Android tablets before producing the iPad mini.
 
Unless Apple releases the rumoured iPad Pro with an Intel processor and Mac OS X and a better price point I don't think they will have a "rebuttal" until they do.

If I had the money, I'd buy a Surface Pro, but I don't. Unbelievably expensive.
 
LOLZpersonok said:
Unless Apple releases the rumoured iPad Pro with an Intel processor and Mac OS X and a better price point I don't think they will have a "rebuttal" until they do.

If I had the money, I'd buy a Surface Pro, but I don't. Unbelievably expensive.
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And what makes you think an iPad Pro with intel processor and OS X won't be as expensive as the Surface Pro?
 
LOLZpersonok said:
Unless Apple releases the rumoured iPad Pro with an Intel processor and Mac OS X and a better price point I don't think they will have a "rebuttal" until they do.

If I had the money, I'd buy a Surface Pro, but I don't. Unbelievably expensive.
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Actually out of the two companies it's actually Microsoft that needs to make sure they don't overcharge. Apple is in the top position and can afford to charge what they want. They have much higher penetration with the iPad and MacBooks than Microsoft does with the Surface.
 
rowspaxe said:
Your company isn't doing much contract work--as nearly every contract i've exchanged is in word. No knock on you--but you are an outlier
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Valid point. We get tons of word documents, Pages opens them right up. Edit them and save them back to word format for the client. Not a single $@0^ was given.

All of the contracts are printed by the client or us to 'physically' sign, which kills me but makes the lawyers happy, so the exchange part doesn't seem to affect use at all. I can also get the client to log onto the web at their office and view/edit/collaborate the document via iCloud account we have for them.

Back to the OP:
We purchased two surfaces, not the RT crap, the real deal. One self-claimed Windows lover tested it for about a week and returned it for an iPad. The other die-hard Window fan still has it sitting on their desk as a clock and picture frame of their kids. They quietly asked for an iPad after about two months. We will probably not purchase a Surface 3, never know though. Someone may need a digital frame.
 
Meister said:
This surface thing isnt selling beczuse its in no way a competition to the ipad.
Bad, bad battery life. Heavy. and of course: windows :(
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The battery life isn't so bad at 9 hours and Windows isn't a bad OS. It may not be your favorite, but it does power most of the world's operations. I use it at work and I have zero major issues with it.

Meister said:
i compared it to the ipad.
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From what I'm seeing, many people are comparing the Surface to the MacBook Air more than the iPad.
 
LOLZpersonok said:
No worries, it happens. I still have a feeling that if Apple did do such a thing with the iPad Pro it would probably cost less, but I don't know. I'm not good at putting a price on things.
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I agree. History has shown that when it comes to the iPad, Apple has the ability to greatly reduce the price. So much so that it caused their competition to come out with higher priced alternatives... which is not a good thing when they've painted Apple as a maker of "over-priced boutique hardware that caters to image rather than value". That has pretty much blown up in their faces.

I remember the pundits speculating that the iPad (1st gen) would debut with a $1000 pricetag.
 
sracer said:
I agree. History has shown that when it comes to the iPad, Apple has the ability to greatly reduce the price. So much so that it caused their competition to come out with higher priced alternatives... which is not a good thing when they've painted Apple as a maker of "over-priced boutique hardware that caters to image rather than value". That has pretty much blown up in their faces.

I remember the pundits speculating that the iPad (1st gen) would debut with a $1000 pricetag.
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It's kinda the same way with the Mac Pro compared to other Windows workstations. For example, a baseline HP Z820 costs about $2,340 where the Mac Pro for a baseline model costs $3,100, but with the Mac Pro you're getting way more bang for your buck. An HP Z820 with the same hardware as a baseline Mac Pro costs about $4,000, but then again, the Z820 is way more expandable (By this I mean when it is fully configured it makes a fully configured Mac Pro look wimpy), so you might be paying for that.
 
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