Microsoft Surface Tablet
Microsoft unveiled the Windows 8 Surface Tablet yesterday. One interesting feature along with it being on Windows 8 is the built in paper thin keyboard on the cover. However since it is so thin, it seems to have the same problem like the screen/virtual keyboards and i.e. of no tactile feedback. Probably they should look to integerate with this.
I read this article, but could not really get much understanding of what this tablet has got to do with the earlier Microsoft Surface device? I looked up additional articles here, here and here.
They all talk about Microsoft Surface Tablet but nothing much on the earlier Surface. It looks like that the Surface product line is being rebranded to the tablet on Windows 8. The official MS Surface website is also now displaying information on this tablet. The erstwhile Surface now is known as Microsoft PixelSense. The latest sdk is still being called as Surface 2.0, but the device is now PixelSense.
Am not sure how this changing of brand names will help. Microsoft Surface 1.0 wasn't successful due to various reasons like performance, niche hardware, high cost and horizontal only orientation. With Surface 2, some of these issues were taken away. However the usage probably still got hampered due to delays on availability of Samsung SUR40 device.
Is using this brand name, that wasn't highly successful, for a new tablet device (an area that Microsoft is already late to enter) a good choice? Do share your thoughts.
Comments
I agree that Microsoft branding can get confusing. As for the tactile feedback there is the Type Cover that has keys in it, but not sure if it gives enough feedback to feel like a keyboard. I feel that now Microsoft is in a position to take this forward: They have the hardware device and software platform(Win 8) and now only thing that is missing is the App ecosystem like App store/ Android market. If they can attract developers and if Windows App store grows, then we can see some good competition.
Posted by: Suhas R.S | June 20, 2012 9:59 AM
@Suhas, Agree with you. The consumer space penetration will highly depend on how the app store grows. MS has been organizing events like 24 hour hackethon to get developers across the world to come and write applications for Windows 8 app store. Many of them will eventually make it to the store. But it will take time to catch up
Posted by: Atul | July 2, 2012 12:05 PM