Surface left on shelves as world+dog slurps up small slates Half a million Microsoft Surface tablets may be gathering dust on shop shelves, it has been claimed. Market watcher IHS iSuppli reckons Microsoft shipped 1.25 million Surface tablets into the resale channel during Q4 2012. However, only 55 to 60 per cent of those Windows RT-based devices were purchased by punters. That means …
As a rabid ex microsoft user, and Linux loving nut, I actually admit to the idea of really wanting one.
Like the best of the line, for $10, maybe $20.... no make that $10... fully cracked and running Linux...
That or piling up pallets of them, into a HUGE heap, outside their head quarters, and then burning the lot of them.
That and a few container ship loads of all their boxes of software.....
If microsoft had just made a dedicated OS for tablets, and a dedicated OS for desktops instead of trying to mash everything into one, then there is no doubt in my mind that both would have been superior and resulted in higher sales numbers for both Surface Tablets, and Windows 8(the desktop version)
Maybe Microsoft will start to realise this now too with the poor sales of Surface and lack of adoption of Windows 8.
Lack of apps.
The reason they shoehorned the TIFKAM into desktops is that they hope to attract more developers for it. The developers would not bother for their current market share on mobile, and the market share will not improve unless developers write apps. It's a chicken and egg problem, and they are trying to solve it by having their cash cow lay the egg. Er… Yes.
Everyone going 7" seems a mistake to me. The original iPad form factor seems ideal to me for browsing the web and watching video without having to zoom in on smaller text
Even though I agree with you that I think 7" is a bit small the I-pad most definitely has the wrong format for watching 16:9 or 16:10 video. The bigger screen comes with considerable added weight and as you almost always have to scroll down websites, the 16:10 format is less of a problem. The I-pad's 4:3 format does make sense in other applications but in turns out most people are using their tablets to consume media and portability and, therefore, weight is key.
Apple was so careful to not break existing iPad apps by quadrupling the pixels for the iPad3 (and then calling it "retina", as if they had a choice). Interesting then that the new iphone is now 16:9, requiring app developers to update their apps. Good on them for recognizing the better aspect ratio and then taking the hit.
And good on them for keeping iPad's at 4:3. The aspect ratio on android tablets is what keeps me away. 4:3 8" screen with no side bezels on the mini was a brilliant choice. For everything except for youtube, 4:3 is a more natural layout.
Aside: not a fanboi; I have an android phone and no iPad. Waiting for them to chop the bezels off of the 10", or up the resolution of the mini first. Or for a properly spec'd android with a 4:3 screen.
I was in a meeting yesterday and the sales director had an ipad mini with him.
He launched Salesforce.com and started commenting the numbers.
the size looked perfect for this.
Later on I had lunch with a supplier.
He was using a Nexus7. We did a bit of spreadsheet work using quickofficePro.
The format just looked cramped and weird, however as satnav he commented and I suppose to watch video .
That is was brillant.
There you have it, Work related stuff 4:3 consumption related 16:9 or 16:10
7" is pocket size, very handy and useable in my experience but hopeless for non-simplistics apps. I've been pleased with the Nexus 7. Surface/iPad size more comfortable for lounge browsing and travel. I can imagine in a couple of years travelling around with a phone, a 7", an 11" and maybe a lightweight 16" plug in screen and its all still more portable than a laptop, main thing I'd like to see improve is the way these devices talk to each other. I expect the 11" will be a Surface Pro type device, looking ahead the days of an 11" pure play tablet like iPad 4 are numbered.
I have a Nexus 7 (paid for it my self) and a surface (gift).
I carry the nexus 7 with me. It's the biggest size that will fit in one hand securely and, fit in a pocket.
The surface is too big to hold in one hand securely and is quite heavy to hold for long periods. With the built in stand and add on keyboard it becomes a vastly overpriced netbook that's too top heavy and floppy to use on your lap.
I have an iPod touch 2nd gen and wanted something bigger but found the iPad to be too big. I might have bought the iPad mini if it came out last year, but I like the Nexus 7 better so I'm glad they waited.
To be fair, it's all relative - I don't recall the Register moaning about ASUS's results in Q4 2011 when they sold far less than a million. (Or consider 2007, when Apple had a measly 3.3 million over 6 months, which for phones is abysmal.) Typically new platforms (which Windows RT is) start small, the question is growth. And however much or little each sells, it's good to have choice (I'm sure Clevo don't sell that many, but that doesn't stop me liking my Clevo laptop). If people are preferring smaller tablets, we should be noting how Apple got it wrong too.
And hang on - what's Android's share? If Windows RT is small, and IOS at 43%, I make that Android now leading in non-phone tablets too.
Rather depressing to see once again, the media do the trick of stop reporting by OS, and switch to reporting by company, just to suit what makes Apple look best.
Oh, and shouldn't growth be given in change in percentage (or perhaps absolute increase in sales), and not relative growth? I mean, MS are first with infinite growth, by that measure...
It's not like this is fruit 'n' veg. Worst case, even with flat growth this quarter, they just pause production and sell the rest in time. Not sure what profit they make per device, but even at just £10 a device - well, let's just say that I wish my so-called "failures" net me £10 million.
The only Surface tablets I've seen in the flesh have all been sitting on glass cases inside department store tech departments. No label other than a 12pt price tag, no view of a box, no floor advertising, and no way of trying it even if you can locate someone with a key for cabinet.
It's several rungs of unwantedness below the shelves of ultrabooks and Windows 8 laptops that are all stuck on the login screen or which have had the desktop disabled, no internet access and the usual list of sales presentation problems that we've all seen for decades.
Lap-tabs were always inferior to light laptops with long lived batteries that would not burn your leg while you sat somewhere comfortable. iPads are much better than laptops, but useless while being held in one hand while walking about. MS just doubled down on Jobs mistake.
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MS only put them in shops the week before Christmas. Which is madness if you ask me! So it's actually quite impressive they sold any at all. Before that, they were trying to sell them online. I did see one switched off in John Lewis on Christmas Eve, and my brother said he's been in there the day before and an MS sales bloke had shown him it working, with the keyboard. But he bought an iPad the next week anyway... Oops.
I've already got an iPad 3, I just wanted a play. If they have a fire sale, I might go for it anyway. But I'm also massively tempted by a Nexus 7, for no good reason other than "shiny".
It may not be all bad news for Win 8, at least the non-rt version. I bought a samsung ativ smart pc over christmas and quite like it. But I didn't really get the point of RT, I wanted a slate I could use my laptop software on, I wanted an active digitizer for art and handwritten notes, and it was only $50 more than the Windows RT Surface. Frankly, given the price difference, I'm not really sure why someone would buy the Surface Pro coming in a few weeks over the Samsung either. It may be the future of Win 8 is on Samsung, not MS.
Yes, it may be the Surface Pro is a more competitive machine. I was a bit leery of the ativ's specs, but all I can say is that its performance has been much better than I suspected; it runs all my drawing apps (including Illustrator CS6) fine (at least if you only have one open at a time), and that 9 hours of battery life is awesome.
I suppose it may be worth a warning for some people thinking about a Win 8 slate as a graphics slate. While as I've said I'm generally quite happy with mine, whoever made the decision to remove "Restore Previous Versions" from Windows 8 in favor a network share based solution should be shot. It's a slate OS fer chrissake! My laptop and its CAT 6 is my network share machine. Other than the loss of the function of "restore previous versions" functionality I'm happen. But that bit sucks, bit time.
What are the RT machines like for talking to cameras and the like?
I just haven't found any useful scenario-based documents or videos for RT except for the "I like sliding coloured tiles around like an ADD crack-addict" scenario.
Can one purchase and download music from the net?
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