Microsoft’s Big Surface Error: Leading with Consumer Tablets

IT Knowledge Exchange says that Microsoft is making a huge strategic error and squandering a major potential advantage its new Surface tablet PC will have over competitors, particularly the iPad by releasing the consumer version of the Surface ahead of the enterprise one which will come 90 days later.

The blog observes that Microsoft’s best bet for Surface success is not a big holiday impact with consumers (noting that many others have taken a stab at that consumer market and failed), and contends that it should take a different tack and go after the enterprise market full bore, and that if theSurface has any hope at all (prospectgs are dubious), the enterprise is going to be Redmond’s best bet because theres at least a slight opening in that market.

I agree with that assessment. Microsof’s Surface will compete at the consumer level with the iPad as a touchscreen media tablet using the new ARM CPU supporting Windows RT operating system and touch-oriented Metro user interface, but the more powerful, higher-end model will be powered by an Intel Core i5 PC CPU and capable of running the full version of Windows 8 with a traditional desktop interface and file system access, and supporting the vast ecosystem of Windows software. Both versions will have a real keyboard built into a magnetic cover, and a variety of industry standard I/O ports including real USB.

The corporate device downsizing and mobilizing dynamic is now entering another phase with the ascendency of smartphones and tablets, putting desktops and even notebooks on life-support, their continued emphasis attributable to corporate buying policies, hardware replacement cycles, and the inertia of familiarity.

In respect of those trends and developments, Microsoft would seem to be well-poised to catch the wave with the enterprise grade Surface, although their announcement in June was light on some important detail specifics such as pricing and battery charge life. However, if they can keep their tablet PC price-competitive, if and deliver on what they’ve promised: lightweight systems on which content producers can get real work done efficiently, that would be their best shot to take on iPad.

Some Apple partisans argue that the Surface with its multiple choice of user interface and input mode choices, as opposed to the iPad’s imposed simplicity and purity, proves that Microsoft doesn’t “get” tablet computing, and that they’ve just come up with a tablet-like netbook or hybrid computer. But that’s the point here.

There are an awful lot of us — probably a minority, but a substantial one — who don’t perceive having choice in matters like input modes, operating systems, access to the file system, access to the innards for things like battery or other component replacement, and repair as a bad thing. For that cohort, the Surface, designed to seamlessly transition between consumption and creation, presents an attractive package with some cleverly innovative features such as the built-in kickstand that folds out of the way when not in use, but is instantly available when needed, expandable memory, and likely battery packs that an be replaced by tech savvy users armed with a standard screwdriver.

The Surface is a new type of PC. It’s notable that the keyboards and kickstand both define the Surface as a laptop-esque landscape orientation device, as opposed to the portrait screen orientation favored by many iPad and other tablet users. And support for full-featured Windows 8 makes it a far more capable and powerful device than any iPad model.

For example the “enterprise” Surface will be available with up to 128 GB storage capacity, twice as much as the most commodious iPad and on par with what has become the mainstream spec. for Apple’s MacBook Air laptops. It’s still a long shot, but Microsoft should’ve led with its best shot.

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