Reviews - Apple's Tim Cook: Microsoft's Surface is "fairly compromised"

[HEXUS]

Likens the Surface to a car that can fly and swim, it doesn't do either very well.

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[3930k]

lolno

[cameronlite]

I think one of the things you do with a product is make hard trade-offs

It's a good job the iPad has no trade-offs...

[Valinor]

This is just the kind of comment I'd ignore, along with a Microsoft dude talking about Apple or Google products, or a Google dude talking about Microsoft or Apple products (as an example).

EDIT: Because they're hardly likely to go "Damn, our competitors product is better than ours, so it's better if you buy theirs". Not saying it necessarily is in this situation, but you get the idea.

[Funkstar]

Not really much of a surprise is it?

No one would expect Tim Cook to compliment MS and say it's a great device, especially at a earnings conference.

[cheesemp]

I agree on the cost. I got an ASUS tranformer pad tf300 for £379 with a keyboard dock (and a full USB port and tegra 3!). Why would I pay more for a surface?

[Biscuit]

If im honest, i think the surface is a bit compromised. Im obviously not going to agree with mr cook when he bangs on about the user experience with iPad being the best thing since sliced bread and nothing compares to it, but from what i have seen of the surface so far, it just doesn't tick the right boxes.

[edvinasm]

Jealous much Tim?

[Agent]

Those are the comments of a man who is worried.

[wasabi]

If the X86 surface was £399 with the keyboard, I'd consider it. Or if they allowed chrome and other stuff i want, on RT, maybe. As it is, overly locked down and neither fish nor fowl.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you look at the reviews Windows RT appears to be heavier on hardware than Android it seems,and it is a bit expensive. OTH,it does appear to have a good UI and is well built. It also probably will be better for productivity purposes than an iPad too.

[TheAnimus]

Yeah its such a shame the iPad isn't compromised by having a USB port, I mean if you want to copy files from your digital camera to a USB stick, its great that you simply can't, even if you buy the Camera Connection Kit for an extra £30.

It's truely awful that the device has been designed in mind for use as touch, keyboard and mouse. There is no way that can possibly work as well as the bluetooth keyboards do on iOS.

There is a lot that the surface RT isn't, a lot that it simply doesn't do. In fact most of the 'missing' things are nothing to do with compromise, just first gen, the lack of LTE/3G or GPS or NFC or iQ wireless charging.

But the metro live tiles interface, even on a horrible x86 one, is hands down better than iOS on my iPad. Microsoft have a much better user experiance.

However they have virtually no applications.

[gagaga]

That man is worried. The Windows 8 devices that will come along in the next 12 months will replace a tablet and a laptop with no real compromise to either. Apple have nothing that will do that.

An ipad looks and feels exactly the same as it did 3 years ago. Same with Mac OS. The two devices are completely separate - integration is gonna be more of a battle for them than for Microsoft with Windows 8. Microsoft had only had the desktop legacy to deal with - they started with a clean slate for the touch side, Apple have got to find a way to merge ios and osx. It's the hard stuff (the top layers) where the hard work is, and similarity in the base os is irrelevant in this.

[dangel]

If you look at the reviews Windows RT appears to be heavier on hardware than Android it seems,

...yes but it's a full on OS - i.e. with proper scheduling and lots of device support. That said i'd rather have that than the (heh) massively compromised iOS and Android purely for it's capabilities. I seriously want to play with the RT - surprising since it's the pro I really think I want.

Figures out today show android is eating iPad marketshare at quite a rate - add in surface (and it's clones) giving buyers even more choice (not to mention the first tablet with full on office) and Apple should be concerned. What's telling is that MS haven't rubbished the iPad at all..

[cptwhite_uk]

The problem is...if you want productivity buy a £400 laptop. It'll be infinitely more compatible, more useful, nicer to use etc...you can get some really nice units around 400-450 mark these days if you shop around. Just as an example:

http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Acer_M3_...on.asp?PID=676

Okay so you're not getting an IPS Touchscreen or the 11 hours battery life but you are getting:

Full windows 8 experience in x86 environment (for +£15)
320Gb of storage
A bigger screen (read more usable from a productivity POV)
A proper keyboard
20mm thick / 2.2Kg
7 hour battery life (which is more than adequate for most)
DVD Writer

I'm not saying the products are comparable, I'm saying if you had ~ £400-500 to spend and you want something for productivity the Surface RT doesn't make much sense. The Surface Pro looks more compelling but you know with the Surface @ £400 (without a keyboard remember) is going to price itself out of the market ....I'm expecting prices of £600+ when really it needs to hit £500 or less to have any kind of mass market appeal.

Found an even better deal on that laptop:
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Acer_...1_1215226.html

+20Gb SSD boot drive
+£15 cashback (free upgrade to windows 8)
+ £400 delivered
+

[gagaga]

The office angle to grab potential ipad customers is one thing... the biggest one is going to be when people come to replace their laptop next year.

Once Haswell (and all the cheapo associated celerons etc) comes along, all laptops will have active standby - instant on to a tablet interface. By then touch screen will probably be standard on pretty much all laptops (whether it's needed or not), and a huge chunk of the market will be convertibles with a detachable keyboard.

Miss Smith will walk into PC world, spend her £400-500 and walk out with a replacement for her Dell that is also a tablet. How (or why) would she justify spending an additional £400 on an ipad? She'll already have a tablet that does her email, iplayer, facebook and browsing, but will also let her manage the pictures from her camera, type that CV in Word and look at the stuff on the USB hard disk she bought 3 years ago.

Those that want a separate device will want something small and cheap for on the move - Android will clean up there (or phones will be so gigantic by then, there will be no market for 7" tablets either).