The Microsoft Surface, Apple No Need to Worry

Lots of emails on the new MS Surface. Here is my short answer.

Microsoft has fallen wayside in innovation. I can write a whole book on Microsoft from its early days up until today. They missed the Browser/Internet Train. They missed a lot of stuff. All because they want to milk their Office and Windows products. Product after product and stories after stories of how it is not a product unless it runs some sort Windows/Office combo.

Blah. That’s all I have to say. I was not impressed by the new Surface tablet. Not only was it a dud, flat, dull and lackluster event, it is, as the old adage goes, a day late and a dollar short.

So why even bother? Will it kill the iPad?

NO. The Microsoft Surface is not an iPad killer. It is an Android replacement. It is a reason not to buy an Android tablet. Which are notoriously bad and fragmented. Sue me. Yes. They are.

Most tablet and phone manufacturers have to pay Microsoft up to $15 patent/licensing fee for using Android on their devices. Wait a minute? HTC, Samsung, and all other Android device manufacturers have to pay Microsoft a licensing fee for supporting Android? With sub-par software?

According to IDG, over 300 million Windows PC’s will ship this year (sue me part II, don’t have a link) and a lot of these users will want a tablet that will run their software without a hitch. Hello Microsoft Surface. Adios Android.

Samsung is the leading Android device vendor (sue me part III, no link) and Samsung has an alternative OS called Bada. Well, Samsung’s relationship with Google most likely will go sour once the Motorola Mobility merger clusterf**k gets some sort of respite and they work out their merger kinks. So Samsung will have to stave off Motorola at their own game. Google will most likely push new features of Android first on its own devices. Why buy Motorola in the first place. I would do the same. I would keep some hot features only available on my product line not  to a competitor. Hell no.

And as I mentioned before, with all the other Android manufactures having to pay the Microsoft tax. Why just not switch to Microsoft tablet and pay less.

Anyhow, NO, the new surface will not out seat the iPad. But it could give Android a big headache.

As to the Surface introduction last night. Totally FUD announcement from Microsoft.

No pricing announced, no battery duration information announced, no major apps demoed, the one app they demoed crashed the unit (it would not be a Microsoft show without a blue screen of death) and worst, two models were announced, an ARM based model and an Intel Sandy Bridge model were announced with higher disk capacity. Yet, the worst part? No release date. Worst part numero 2, two different versions of XP will be available for the surface, one for ARM CPU chipset, the other for the Intel chipset. Yikes !

So this was a total FUD on Microsoft. A panic move as I would describe it. Balmer said, it took them this long to get something right, I call that BS. It took them this long to figure out how to run Windows/Office on a tablet without crippling the software.

But, setting all my sarcasm aside and MS bashing, will it sell? Yes. Why? Because it is Microsoft after all and while in the US it may not be as appealing and hot and sexy as Apple, there are dozen’s of other countries where Microsoft is as much of a brand as “Coke”. Does it have a chance to displace Android? I hesitate to give it an absolute yes, but the only way it would do that if is Microsoft gets the pricing and battery life right. Android may become 3rd.

In other related tablet news, RIM is about to expire and Nokia is entering life support. MS do us all a favor and buy them out. You have got plenty of cash and you can tap into their talent and distribution.

Carlos.