
The iPad Mini’s out, but here’s why Microsoft’s Surface is going to be huge - donohoe
http://qz.com/19896/the-ipad-minis-out-but-heres-why-you-should-care-more-about-microsofts-surface/
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BruceIV
So, the Surface is going to do well _because_ it's the third competitor
against two well-established players, and a three-player market is better for
consumers? This must finally be the year of the Linux desktop as well.

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BruceIV
I've got Windows 8 on my laptop, by the way, and the Metro apps available
right now tend to be slow, buggy, under-featured, and ad-ridden. The Metro
ecosystem might take off, but given that the Microsoft built-ins are some of
the worst of the bunch, it bodes ill.

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steve8918
I think that releasing Surface RT first will confuse a lot of customers. Many
people are saying incorrectly that Surface will run Windows apps, but my
understanding is that Surface RT won't, but a subsequent version will. If this
is true, and if this gets Microsoft a lot of bad press, it will basically kill
the Surface. Also, the iPad mini, despite my belief that it will completely
cannibalize iPad sales and hurt Apple, will likely inhibit people from buying
Surface as well.

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tankbot
Bit off-topic but a serious question (not flaming):

Even if the iPad Mini does cannibalize iPad sales (I'm sure it will cut into a
percentage, but ultimately add to overall numbers/revenue), how will this
possibly hurt Apple?

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steve8918
They need to sell around 1.5 or 2 iPad minis for every iPad they are
replacing. They've already sold 100M iPads. They sold 14M ipads this last
quarter, can the market support 22M to 28M iPad minis? I doubt it, but my
guess is that a lot of people will go for the iPad mini because people don't
want a tablet, they want an iPad, and they don't care which one it is. The
fact that it's exactly the same but smaller and cheaper means most people will
buy this, in my opinion.

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tankbot
But it's the same as an iPad2, not an iPad (Retina).

I think you are right that people will buy this because it's cheaper and
smaller, but those are the people that would have purchased an iPad2 because
they "don't want a tablet, they want an iPad, and they don't care which one it
is."

In my mind the Mini is a replacement/upgrade on the current iPad2 (at a
similar price point) and the full-blown Retina iPad will continue as the
flagship of sorts.

The smaller size just means the Mini fits a niche that the previous offerings
didn't.

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astrodust
In the Windows PC world, of which the Surface is an extension, you are used to
being able to shop around for a less expensive model with the same fundamental
specs.

They're fighting against OEMs that will try and make something like Surface,
only cheaper. If they can, then Microsoft will be competing against them. If
they can't because the licensing costs are too high, they'll abandon Windows
and actively work against Microsoft.

Apple doesn't have this problem because of how they've structured their
market. It's a premium product. You don't look for cheaper versions. At best
you look for sales.

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tawm
This site is a usability horror.

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nixarn
yeah, what the hell, I was scrolling around and all the suddenly I was reading
another article :S and what's up with the iOS-styled sidebar?

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navs
Ugh this is a pretty mobile site but scrolling all the way to the top enables
some kind of pull to refresh type action that takes me to the next story. Also
the now obvious icon for menus on the top left opens something completely
different to a site menu. This is a visually appealing but otherwise
frustrating mobile site to explore.

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smegel
> The biggest breakthrough is upgrading the touchscreen revolution to the next
> generation. The new flavor of Windows uses large, animated tiles to convey
> when and where your new information, apps and services are updated. It’s a
> giant leap.

I really hate it when people use a banal description of the Metro interface as
some kind of self-evident proof that is is better than Apple/Android and "the
future".

You like Metro? Fine. But stop pretending that just because it is different it
is necessarily better than everything else.

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callmevlad
This site does not load at all with the Ghostery plugin, and I'm having a hard
time figuring out what I need to allow to see the content, because it all
looks like tracking code.

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donohoe
I can't speak for the Ghostery plugin, however is a JS based site that relies
on client-side templates and JS to render the content. What browser and OS are
you using?

The site pretty much requires a modern browser (IE9+, iOS, Android 3.0,
Chrome, Safari, or FF) but the "degrade gracefully" aspect still need a lot of
attention.

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callmevlad
I'm using the latest Chrome Canary with the default Ghostery settings. The
site looked fine once I temporarily disabled the plugin.

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mtgx
From the reviews I've seen Surface has pretty poor performance outside of
animations and UI transitions, which shouldn't be too hard to begin with
considering its low 1366x768 resolution. I don't think I'd pay $500 for an
experience that's effectively worse than a netbook and has only half of the
storage that it promises as free for the user. And you also get almost no apps
of note, nor many apps that cover any niche you might be interested in.

