Microsoft Surface Tablet
Since the debut of Apple’s mega-seller iPad, now in its third
generation, technology manufacturers have tried again and again to win
some of the spotlight from their beautifully designed aluminum and glass
competitor. Despite software backing with Google’s Android platform to
rival Apple’s iOS, we’ve seen a string of mediocre launches that can
fundamentally do the job but can’t capture that “cool and hip” element
that Apple has pioneered with its products.
While many thought former smartphone giant RIM, creator of the
Blackberry, could make a dent in the market, consumers were utterly
disappointed by a similarly priced unit that lacked 3G functionality at
launch; despite promises one would follow, a revised version hasn’t been
seen on the horizon. In fact, RIM had to resort to slashing prices to
well below market value last fall in order to clear stock from its
warehouses, where it sat collecting dust.
While recent entrants to the market, the so-called e-reader/tablet hybrids such as Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Kobo’s VOX, planned to make the leap in order to capture the low-cost market, not one company has been able to challenge Apple’s dominance in the tablet market. But that, quite possibly, is about to change.
Arch-rival and software giant Microsoft took an unprecedented step yesterday and pulled a move right out of Apple’s marketing book to introduce their first tablet, known as the Surface.
The tactics included top-secret media invitations, an undisclosed location and virtually no information about what journalists were to be shown, just a casual, “This will be a major Microsoft announcement — you will not want to miss it.” Did it work? We would definitely reckon so, but it presents a number of pertinent questions and situations.
Posted by Unknown
on 8:41 AM.
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