The Cornerplay: Apple and Google tablets moving to Microsoft territory

[Jeffrey Yuwono]

The common refrain has been that tablets are for consumption and that laptops are for productivity, and never the twain shall meet. Because of refrigerators and toasters, or something like that. Microsoft tried to bridge that gap with Windows 8 and the Surface, but its efforts have been mostly met with general scorn.

But it's a different world today. Tablet sales have flatlined in developed markets, smaller tablets are less desirable in light of phablets, PC sales have stabilized and people want to do work on large screens.

And now Apple and Google want to cross that bridge, too, into Microsoft territory. Apple with the iPad Pro, and Google with the new Nexus.

Read the complete article.

 

[oldikes]

I cant tell if serious. with the rise of $150 FULL windows tablets, and when people realize what that means in terms of compatibility with their full size laptops, those will take a huge bite out of android tablets.

 

[Guest]

You're right about 12" screens. I bought a 8" tablet and it's still too small, barely acceptable for web browsing, no good for movies or productivity. The on screen keyboard is murder... oh well.

 

[Victor Who]

I cant tell if serious. with the rise of $150 FULL windows tablets, and when people realize what that means in terms of compatibility with their full size laptops, those will take a huge bite out of android tablets.

First of all, there is no RISE of full Windows Tablets. Windows tablets have been stuck at 3% since it's introduction to the market. People will not realize, because people simply don't care for operating systems, moreso the Windows Operating System. They care about getting the things done fast, cheap, and free...all in a simple manner. Windows is too complex. Only tech enthusiasts will have no problem, but regular normal won't.

All in all, this is very bad news. Their Surface products have been dismal failures. If the ever popular Android and secondary popular iOS tablets start making hay with their new strategy to get people buy their products, then that would confirm the digression of the modern Windows brand.

 

[Guest]

I think people forget that the iPad and Google tablets have been used as productivity devices for very long time now. Those in denial like to list requirements like mouse/keyboard/office as true productivity devices not realizing that many companies, specifically Fortune 500 ones, have their own written apps for these devices to allow input of data.

 

[Guest]

Microsoft is already eat scraps with their tablets, and now others want to take it away? This shouldn't be too hard and good luck to them.

 

[Guest]

Android already supports the mouse. Hook a Bluetooth mouse to an android device and you will be amazed that it just works out of the box.

 

[Guest]

Who uses Windoze?

 

[oldikes]

First of all, there is no RISE of full Windows Tablets. Windows tablets have been stuck at 3% since it's introduction to the market. People will not realize, because people simply don't care for operating systems, moreso the Windows Operating System. They care about getting the things done fast, cheap, and free...all in a simple manner. Windows is too complex. Only tech enthusiasts will have no problem, but regular normal won't.

All in all, this is very bad news. Their Surface products have been dismal failures. If the ever popular Android and secondary popular iOS tablets start making hay with their new strategy to get people buy their products, then that would confirm the digression of the modern Windows brand.

its not about the operating system itself, its about complete compatability with their schoolwork, all related software like powerpoint, etc, and all PC games, and all windows programs. This transitions tablets from more of a content consumption device used for watching videos or reading textbooks to a content creation device. The efficiency of windows for creation of schoolwork/presentations and stuff versus the efficiency of a mobile OS is a huge reason people still use laptops for college, among other things. In other words, its easier to consume content on a traditional tablet, but using a version of windows found on all computers means that its compatible with the environment traditionally used for creation.

 

[Guest]

Has Microsoft learned the very valuable lesson that compromises rarely, if ever, work nearly as well as purpose-built software and/or hardware? We will see with the release of Windows-9. Hopefully, Apple and Google will not sacrifice their core competencies in attempts to market compromises to compete with Microsoft.

 

[1ArmedGeek]

I cant tell if serious. with the rise of $150 FULL windows tablets, and when people realize what that means in terms of compatibility with their full size laptops, those will take a huge bite out of android tablets.

First of all, there is no RISE of full Windows Tablets. Windows tablets have been stuck at 3% since it's introduction to the market. People will not realize, because people simply don't care for operating systems, moreso the Windows Operating System. They care about getting the things done fast, cheap, and free...all in a simple manner. Windows is too complex. Only tech enthusiasts will have no problem, but regular normal won't.

All in all, this is very bad news. Their Surface products have been dismal failures. If the ever popular Android and secondary popular iOS tablets start making hay with their new strategy to get people buy their products, then that would confirm the digression of the modern Windows brand.

I do like the iPad to play games and use social media on, but I don't like to do ANYTHING serious on it.

 

[Guest]

I think that Windows 8 was actually needed. Mad thought I know, but hear me out...

It's been done time and time again in all aspects of life from computing to politics, if you have to change your policies and have a very large group of users/people/followers, the trick is to make a massive initial change that goes way past your target and gets all sorts of crazy reactions.......... you're then in a position to be patient and then reel things back to where you actually wanted it to be with everyone applauding, whereas if you went to the level you wanted to be initially you'd still have backlash but no room to back down (without losing your goal).

Windows 9 by all accounts will easily please the desktop crowd (I'm a desktop user that loves w8 btw, but you can't ignore the shouting ey), its disabling the modern ui for mouse/keyboard users but making it available along with all my store apps that I love (without forcing them on you), while devices that benefit from the touch ui the most will get it by default and finally the true android/ipad competition will come in the form of a full arm no desktop store only no virus or crappy toolbar rocking windows with touch office built in along with full sync to your desktop for passwords for websites and WiFi networks etc and settings and personalization.

Basically I live where its heading, I love the way even now the features make my computing life easier and I'm deffo all in on the Ms train simply because it makes it all easier - think about it not many can lead a truly none Ms it life, be it windows at work/home/family services like one drive and outlook and office, putting it simply by embracing the Ms platforms/services I think I get a better deal both value wise and feature/ease of use wise as well.

Just my opinion folks...

 

[GeforcerFX]

Well I moved from laptops to tablets mid last year. I tried a android tablet (Asus transformer) but found android to be focused more in the content consumption and trying to use it like a desktop was challenging and not extremely easy.

I had some apps I had bought for my phone but nothing seemed very "computer" like to me just felt like I was using my phone on my monitor, not always terrible but I would like a work environment. I sold that off, I had bought a surface RT 64gb with a touch cover even earlier that year, it was slower then I was expecting and was not allowing me to manage my email and calendar like I enjoy.

When I sold the android I upgraded my surface RT to 8.1 RT, was like getting a brand new tablet. The system's performance changed dramatically the customizations of 8.1 RT were just like my desktop 8.1 and the office suite got improved with outlook (was really surprised Microsoft did that) Used a VGA adapter and Bluetooth keyboard and mouse when I wanted to treat my RT like a computer and it worked great using a usb hub gave me all the productivity I needed atm. Had a Surface Pro 2 drop to a sale price I couldn't pass up, I really don't use my surface RT to much anymore, its nice when I want very light and maximum battery life, but the surface pro's performance and flexibility unmatched by anything else I have tried.

At this point I would never need to go back to a laptop, not huge fan of the surface pro 3 but I might grab one later this year early next year, but I would have to get the i7 version to make it worth the upgrade. Prob gonna grab the surface pro 2's dock soon and just stick with it till next summer at least, wait and see if surface pro 3 gets a broad well update or not. For me it works, when I am on the go the 10" screen is more then enough, having the quick video out option (or dock) makes the at desk work just as good as a desktop and better then most laptops. Apple could try there best but anyone who needs windows will find iOS to be pretty much worthless, unless they can run cloud/ server based apps

I have not heard great things about Samsung's attempt at professional android tablets even with all the software they add to give it more function( the price for performance is a joke compared to windows tablets as well), windows (or a desktop linux) would still be better for most people wanting as much function on the go.

Windows tablet market share seems to be messed up it makes sense them staying at 3% since they seem to be counting ARM devices only, I would assume full windows 8/8.1 tablets end up counting as computers in most market analysis's depending on how they collect there data.

 

[wacky84]

Wow nice info

 

[Arris]

I bought my wife the Surface Pro 2, and she commented "It's better than a laptop". In some ways I would agree. When we used to travel I would take my laptop for photo editing(and a bit of BF4 when visiting my in laws) and my wife would take her little AMD E-350 Netbook. Now we just take the surface.

It's not quite as quick as my laptop and only has 4GB ram but the i5 haswell in it is good enough so I can do some photo editing on it if I want. We don't own any tablet devices so this filled her requirement for a laptop she could still do work for School on and ours for a tablet device that can start quickly and be used casually in our living room without a tray/beanbag to sit it on and having to plug it in due to poor battery life. Recently had a play with a Pro 3 that our IT department at work were setting up and think it's a nice form factor and a better screen size. If it wasn't for the fact it was limited to Intel graphics I'd really consider picking one up for myself. I remember carrying a Dell 366 Pentium II laptop when travelling for work and it was a hefty piece of luggage to haul around airports.

Windows will still have the productivity advantage for a while due to its back catalogue of software and the business worlds reliance on Office, Visual Studio, Adobe and other video/image software etc. etc.

 

[Red87]

Who uses Windoze?

Oddly enough, most of the world.

 

[Guest]

I've been saying for a long time that Microsoft should have been capitalizing on the business aspect of mobile devices. They were too concerned about the consumer type users that Apple was garnering and tried to hard to appease the always flighty consumerism with big nameless pictures and pretty colors, meanwhile they forgot that businesses require stability, security, efficiency, and consistency. MS Servers, APIs, and Office products should have already been empowering the mobile business world, instead of constantly bending to appease the finicky nature of consumerism. Now that the other guys are circling the wagons towards business users, Microsoft is finding themselves trailing behind them when they could have been way ahead of them this whole time. Sometimes you just have to learn the hard way.

 

[Mbloof]

I cant tell if serious. with the rise of $150 FULL windows tablets, and when people realize what that means in terms of compatibility with their full size laptops, those will take a huge bite out of android tablets.

First of all, there is no RISE of full Windows Tablets. Windows tablets have been stuck at 3% since it's introduction to the market. People will not realize, because people simply don't care for operating systems, moreso the Windows Operating System. They care about getting the things done fast, cheap, and free...all in a simple manner. Windows is too complex. Only tech enthusiasts will have no problem, but regular normal won't.

All in all, this is very bad news. Their Surface products have been dismal failures. If the ever popular Android and secondary popular iOS tablets start making hay with their new strategy to get people buy their products, then that would confirm the digression of the modern Windows brand.

As others have mentioned, Bluetooth keyboards and mouses can already be attached to Android and iOS devices. I don't believe the input methods or the screen size are holding these devices back. However I do believe it is the lack of a COMPELLING CONTENT CREATION SOFTWARE PACKAGE that is.

If we like it or not MS's "Office" suite of applications is the "gold standard" for office centric content creation. Sadly the same suite mostly requires the use of a mouse+keyboard and a fairly large amount of screen realestate.

Granted for some large percentage of "Office" users alternate products such as "Open Office" would more than serve their needs however in the Android or iOS space no viable alternate has surfaced (pun intended) to fill the needs of the (semi) casual "Office File" creation/manipulation crowd. Heck even MS is now offering a version of their "Office" suite for iOS devices.

However even if decent "production" software found its way to Android and iOS devices whatever extra market gains will be short lived as businesses are even LESS likely to replace a functional device with the latest and greatest wizbang gizmo the OEM's released then the trendy consumer market. Hence the OEM's will have to wait for battery/device failure much like the PC devices.

 

[Guest]

All I took from this is that Apple are just adding a bigger screen for their device and Google are adding a physical keyboard. Woop-de-doo.

OK, once this is done, how about a real test. Take nice small notebook like say a HP Pavillion 11" touch screen notebook, an iPad Pro and a Nexus. The test is to make three separate documents, one with predominantly text, one with text and some clipart and one with spreadsheet and charting elements.

You will soon see how much pie in the sky BS is being thrown around with tablets being able to create decent content.