“This time, Microsoft means business. At the original Surface tablet launch in 2012, it told us it meant business,” Hilton Tarrant writes for memeburn. “Again, at the far more muted Surface 2 launch in September last year. Perhaps it didn’t really, really mean business those first two times. This time, it’s different. Promise.”
“The euphoria around new chief executive Satya Nadella’s first 100 days in charge has tapered off, mostly completely. In fact, it died down after the company’s Build event in early April,” Tarrant writes. “It’s fair to say that the Surface Pro 3 (why does it need the ‘Pro’ moniker in there?!) is not a Nadella product. It’s the latest in a long list of products and services that are still churning off the unstoppable Steve Ballmer-led conveyor belt. Nadella is stuck with Surface (and the Nokia devices business) whether he likes it or not.”
“The new Surface is useable on your lap (despite the previous generations being sold, but not actually capable of that). ‘Lapability’ is the word Microsoft’s Surface chief Panos Panay used. The ‘Pro’ stylus input stays,” Tarrant writes. “Again, this is the worst of both worlds. Touch plus keyboard (‘Type Cover’) with no clear delineation between the two. What do I use the keyboard for? What do I use the trackpad for? When do I just touch the screen? When do I use the stylus? Steve Jobs’s famous quote about the stylus is more apt than ever.”
MacDailyNews Note:
Tarrant writes, “Pricing is telling. The base model, at $800 plus a keyboard, at US$130, costs more than a base model MacBook Air (as many have pointed out). Spinning this as cheaper than a Mac is disingenuous given the fact that the Type Cover is sold separately. Shouldn’t that be bundled into the box? What use is a laptop without a keyboard?”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Crash and burn.
Related article:
Microsoft shows 12-inch ‘Surface Pro 3′ tablet, starts at $800 – May 20, 2014