Software giant Microsoft is no stranger to Apple bashing. Every once in a while, the Redmond giant take aim at Apple's iPad tablets and MacBook Air ultra-thin notebooks by putting out aggressively conceived television commercials for its Surface tablets.
Just in time for the looming holiday shopping season, Microsoft started airing a brand new Surface Pro ad that argues that its tablet convertible with a kickstand, keyboard cover and desktop apps is a better deal than the MacBook Air.
Software giant Microsoft is reportedly considering developing a bigger Surface Pro tablet with a thirteen to fourteen-inch screen that should appeal to business users for whom productivity is the chief concern, according to a rumor Tuesday out of Taiwan.
As reported by DigiTimes, a Taiwanese trade publication, success of the current twelve-inch Surface Pro 3 — Surface business revenues surged 127 percent to $908 million in the third quarter of 2014 — has encouraged decisions makers at the Redmond firm to consider an even bigger tablet.
Microsoft has announced the Surface Pro 3 at a media event in New York City on Tuesday, setting its sights on not only Apple's iPad, but the MacBook Air as well.
The Surface Pro 3 busts past the 10.1-inch norm to a 12-inch display with a 2160 x 1440 resolution. It's not a 16:9 aspect ratio, but rather a more comfortable 3:2 aspect ratio with a HD screen - a first for Microsoft's Surface line. But the thinness and lightness is where Microsoft is hoping to sell you.Â
As expected, Microsoft held a media event in New York this morning where it unveiled the successors to both of its Surface lines—the Surface 2 and the Surface Pro 2—in a new effort to make inroads into the tough tablet market.
Both slates have received significant updates this time around, with better processors, USB 3.0 support, and Microsoft promising better battery life. But will the hardware upgrades be enough to turn the Surface brand around?
Steve Ballmer sounded pretty confident when his company debuted the Surface tablet last fall. At one point, he even said "I don’t think anybody has done a product that is the product that I see customers wanting," implying that Microsoft had.
But I think by now, it's pretty clear that's not the case. Not only did the software giant have to eat $900 million in unsold Surfaces last quarter, but estimates based on a new SEC filing suggest that it's only sold 1.7 million of them since launch...
After Apple back in January flew its vice president for education John Couch to Turkey who meet with the country's president Abdullah Gül to discuss Turkey's $4.5 billion modernization program in which textbooks will be replaced by tablets and chalkboards by electronic whiteboards, a report Monday notes that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdoğan has now visited Apple, along with Google and Microsoft, in order to explore options ahead of the country's impending decision to purchase 10.6 million tablets for education...
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently addressed the companies Surface and the tablet's sales (or lack thereof).
We're going to try our best not to characterize his comments as whiny or envision the firm's leader stomping his foot in the face of gloomy analysis. But it's hard - real hard.
Speaking with MIT Technology Review, while admitting the Microsoft product was not an iPad-killer, Ballmer stressed the Surface isn't a post-PC fantasy, either...
Microsoft's one-week old Surface Pro tablet already has some dings in its reputation. The device is more difficult to repair than Apple's iPad, according to a teardown by iFixit. The Surface Pro makes extensive use of glue to secure everything, including the battery and display, giving Microsoft's latest tablet a score of just one out of ten for repairability. And repairs could become common, given simply using the Surface Pro could be harmful to the hardware...
After years of sitting on the sidelines, Microsoft entered the modern tablet space late last year with the Surface RT. And although it sparked a lot of initial interest, it failed to translate that into sales, with reports claiming it didn't fair very well over the holidays.
But alas, the Redmond company has a second shot at greatness with its new Surface Pro tablet. And it too has stirred up quite a bit of commotion, with some pundits deeming it a possible iPad/Macbook Air killer. But will this MS slate actually live up to the hype this time?
Although Microsoft's Surface RT is not yet in the bargain bin of tablets, a fire sale could appear any day. That's the impression from a report that the software giant turned tablet player is selling as few as 55 percent of Surface's shipped. But wait, there's more bad news: Â A "very high" rate of the Surface RT tablets are being returned to stores.
If true, Microsoft sold between 680,000 and 750,000 of the 1.25 million Surface RT tablets shipped during the fourth quarter of 2012. Little wonder, then that production of the first Surface has likely halted, according to one hardware research firm Thursday...
So roughly two out of each three respondents in our poll say the new 128GB iPad 4 is going to be a tough sell when it arrives on February 5.
Some folks say there's no point in shelling out $929 for a top-of-the-line 128GB cellular iPad when a $70 more buys you an 11-inch MacBook Air.
And even though the entry-level Air has only half as much storage as the new 128GB iPad, it's a real computer, critics argue.
Comparing apples to oranges doesn't make sense, but what does is how Microsoft admitted - and on the day Apple announced the new 128GB iPad 4 offering, of all days - that the 128GB Surface Pro has only 83 gigabytes of free storage out of the box.
It ain't just a serious rounding error: a whopping 45GB is consumed by the Surface OS and bundled apps, Microsoft confirms...
After a bit of a delay, Microsoft today announced launch details for its new Surface Pro tablet. The device will become available for purchase on February 9, and will run $899 for the entry-level 64GB model.
The Pro's release comes more than three months after its less-capable sibling, the Surface RT. And with reports suggesting that it didn't do so well over the holidays, Microsoft is hoping the Pro will be a hit...