CNET:

Oliver Ahrens, Acer's senior VP and president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, told Reuters that Microsoft's strategy to take on Apple with the Surface tablet will fail.

Microsoft left its partners in the dark about its tablet, releasing it this week at a secretive, Apple-style press event. While it generated some buzz, there are still questions around price, battery life, and connectivity that may take away from its initial energy. And Ahren's comments probably don't help.
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"I don't think it will be successful because you cannot be a hardware player with two products," he said to Reuters. "Microsoft is working with two dozen PC vendors worldwide, including the local guys, whereas Apple is alone, it can more or less do what it wants. Microsoft is a component of a PC system. A very important component but still a component."

They might be partners in the pc biz but that doesnt mean they will be in the tablet biz.

One of the smart things that Apple does is they control the hardware and it is one of the annoying things about Google phones/tablets (and good at the same time :) )

MS has a history of selling very good hardware. Keyboards, mice etc, very high quality and many times market changers.

Market changing keyboards?

Market changing mice?

Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket. The road to billions is paved with market changing keyboards and mice!!


ROFLMAO!! :D:D:D

Surface wont gain much traction on the consumer side because Microsoft doesn't have a real answer to iTunes. iPad users love iTunes, and as Apple allows more streaming and cloud content sharing across platforms (iPod, iPad, current AppleTV, rumored AppleTV) these consumers are going to be more locked in to the Apple universe. Xbox integration/leverage would be something I'd be looking at if I were Microsoft in this area. It could be their ace in the hole...

The Pro version will likely have success in the business place because it is more of a PC than a tablet. PC people want a MacBook Air like experience. I'd like to see price and how far it goes on a charge. If it is like the Win7 Slate today (2.5-4 hours), $1,200-1,400, more for the keyboard and dock, etc it wont supplant many iPads. But it will impact HP and Dell's PC business in the enterprise. If it hits a Macbook Air like 5-7 hours, comes in at under $1,000, and includes things like they keyboard then it will be a formidable competitor all around. But I doubt it. I think fully loaded its going to be around $1,600. As far is it being a hybird consumer/corporate device, I don't see it either. Corporate IT will immediately start worrying about viruses and malware, and they will lock that Slate Pro down with typical PC/IT policies. No local admin rights. No games. Maybe they will allow Windows iTunes. It won't work a hybrid business/consumer device. People will continue to use their iPads.

The RT one is the real question mark. They've already said it won't have the things that corporate IT wants (Active Directory integration, Kerberos, run today's version of Office, etc) but it will run (I assume) IE, and an arm varient of Office. Microsoft has a rumored version of an iOS office suite coming out, so other than IE, I'm not seeing what RT is bringing to the party (other than a pointer and a trackpad). So you've got a mix between the issues the non windows iOS iPad is facing in the enterprise today, with a Microsoft/windows bent on it. Consumers wont flock to it because there's no iTunes/iCloud equivalent. They need to get the xbox users over to the platform, ASAP.

At the end of the day, who says both the iPad and Surface won't be successful? Will a guy/gal taking a 14 hour flight to Tokyo bring their home iPad to watch movies and play games and a Slate Pro to work with on the flight (or when they arrive)? Will they be happier than carrying an iPad and the old school 15" laptop? Something tells me yes.

The flaw in that article is the assumption that iPad users love iTunes. I'm sure many do, but I think a great many do not. iCloud is a different story. I think most like iCloud. I know I do.

Stop trying to turn everything into some kind of bashing opportunity. Poster was clearly trying to explain that Microsoft DOES have a history of good hardware (along with some failures). Every company has its ups and downs in hardware. Xbox is the number one console in the world, they are still leaders in HID development. And yes, Zune was clearly a monumental disaster.

:rolleyes: Indeed it has for some, Logitech may have only made $71 million in profits last year, but they have a long history and certainly selling keyboards and mice is a road to billions.
MS has lot of profits from KB and mice as well. Laugh at it all you want, but enjoy typing everything on your software keyboard and touch screen, life without them would be different.

There is a sample of room for multiple players right there as well, Logitech and MS, compete in almost every category of HID, keyboards, mice, gaming pads, cameras, and both can make good profits from the hardware alone.

ScottC, it's to be expected from for apple fanatics. I mostly ignore and stick to the facts.

They make good peripherals but change the market?

Hardly. I think IBM was more influential with the little nipple thing and Apple pushed trackpads for the longest time, not to mention popularizing multitouch.

The MS ergonomic keyboards are nice but they didn't make everyone buy them so that didn't change the market.

Logitech pushed the wireless mice, laser mice with more precision, etc.

And Xbox is number 1 in the world? Maybe selling the most now, at the end of a generation. But Wii has to have a bigger installed base. Also think Sony is bigger in Europe, Asia and Japan but MS is probably more profitable.

The Ms Natural keyboard, was a market changer at its time, for the next 3-4 years every computer that wasn't bargain basement, was coming with them. for a number of years in the wireless kb/mouse market only the MS or Logitech brands were any good at all, any of the clones drained batteries like they were water, or just worked so bad no one wanted to use them.

IBM with their eraserhead? That was a market changer? HA! There was a reason so many people hated them, they sucked. No other maker used them beyond market samples, IBM basically admitted defeat when they would put a trackpad and a magic eraser....
Several MS mice have been cloned rapidly, the wireless as well. No I am not claiming Logitech has no part (and in fact why I brought them up), was to say that there can be multiple companies bringing new, and good solutions to market.
I am not even getting into the gaming market, it is one I don't know or follow or care about at all. It is generally considered apart from the PC/Mac/Tablet/Laptop market anyway, even if using many of the same parts.
Anyway, not to get too far off topic, Microsoft regardless of what same may think, does have a history of quality, accepted by the market, hardware solutions.

They only did little things like introduce the first optical mouse.

(Is the user battery serviceable?)

Everything is serviceable! Pay no attention to those silly stickers. :)

"My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it."

lol, not even close. They were around long before Microsoft started selling them.

-David

They were actually the same year(1999) Agilent made it, for models that did not require a special grid patter mousepad to operate.

IntelliMouse Explorer with IntelliEye was the market leader in optimal mice in 1999, and was the major product, others followed.
Agilent also designed the first laser mouse and Logitech bought the exclusive rights to it for a period in 2004.