

Analysts are now lowering their future sales forecasts











Source: Bloomberg

Comments     Threshold


RE: No market/Late to market
By Labotomizer on 3/15/2013 11:29:29 AM , Rating: 2
The Surface Pro can do a whole lot more than any other tablet out there. Just sayin...

RE: No market/Late to market
By Spuke on 3/15/2013 11:58:36 AM , Rating: 2
X2 There is a CLEAR difference between the Surface Pro and every other tablet out there. You guys have to make the distinction on which Surface you're referring to,

RE: No market/Late to market

RE: No market/Late to market
By UpSpin on 3/15/2013 12:48:32 PM , Rating: 2
I own such a Windows tablet (convertible) since several years (btw. Surface Pro tablets (slate like) aren't anything new (Fujitsu Stylistic, Motion Computing, ...) and no one bought them in the past)
And you know what? Windows is crap as a tablet OS.

Yes, you can run much more powerful programs on a x86 system running Windows 7 or 8, that was my motivation to buy the tablet PC, so I could use it as both a notebook and as a tablet. I had a use for it and it was worth the money. ($2500)

However, the software 'Windows' is not touch optimized. You can only use it with a pen.
No, Metro UI isn't the solution, because you buy the Surface Pro to run the powerful programs, which don't have a Metro UI!!! So you're stuck with the Windows 7 style user interface which is crap on a tablet PC. Office is nearly impossible to use on a tablet. Sketchbook, Photoshop, both great programs for a pen based tablet, but the majority of people does not own such expensive programs. OneNote is full of bugs and not suited for heavy note taking. You have to buy further expensive rare third party programs to make a good use of it. But forget finger input, it won't make fun.

So Windows and the majority of its programs don't work on a tablet PC. Additionally is a Windows tablet expensive, heavy, noisy, hot, short battery life, slow, ...

So stop talking bullshirt how much better Surface Pro is compared to any other tablet. It's worse, much worse, because the OS, Intel hardware, and programs aren't optimized for a use as a tablet.

Android and iOS tablets with slightly less powerful programs are thousand times better than Surface Pro.

It's a niche product, just as all the previous Windows tablet PCs were, Microsoft hasn't changed anything fundamental with Win 8 and Surface Pro which could change this.

RE: No market/Late to market
By Nortel on 3/15/2013 2:31:53 PM , Rating: 2
I could not agree more. This concept has been around for ages. All that's changed is the detachable keyboard, multitouch screen and Windows 8. Reviewers were given these in droves with both keyboard options for free and still couldn't produce brimming reviews.

With the success of Android and iOS tablets it shows people have gotten past the reliance of a "real computer" to do the same quality of work. Imho, if you do not have an express need for the wacom stylus it quickly becomes cumbersome to use. Using it for all interaction demonstrates how the designers have failed at creating a proper tablet device.

RE: No market/Late to market
By 91TTZ on 3/15/2013 1:05:20 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah, but they marketed it to a really niche audience. Sales will be very low.

Keep in mind that you can buy a laptop that is faster than the Surface Pro for about $400. When Microsoft wants to show the Surface being productive they show it with an add-on keyboard. If they want to make it really productive they'll show it with a mouse, too. Now you have a laptop that performs about as well as a $400 laptop except it costs over $1000.

A customer can get a $400 laptop and 2 $300 Android tablets for that price and have multiple devices for the whole family that cater to different needs.

There's reasons that "all-in-one" contraptions never seem to catch on. You can get an Amphibicar that acts as a car and a boat. You can get a flying car that acts as a car and a plane. Both of these things are more expensive than the vehicles they're intended to replace and don't do the functions as well.

