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superchunk on 24 October 2012
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disolitude said:
superchunk said:

Yeah, RT sounds like a mistake all together. It should simply be the windows phone on an inexpensive tablet. See what Google did with the Nexus 7 or the specialized features of the Samsung Note 10?... that is how you break into the tablet market. Other Android OEMs already proved you're not going to do it with a high-end tablet directly competing at the price point of iPad, even with better features they didn't do well.

WinRT should have been a 7ish inch device with winphone and price similar to Nexus7. Then $50 or so more for the awesome keyboard attachment.

Pro can be the $600 device as it can truly replace a laptop. That one should be full Windows and simply priced to create market. However, it will be nice but priced too high. I'm betting close to $900 which is at least $200 too much.

The problem is that only way Google can sell you a tablet over an ipad is if its under 200 bucks. Microsoft has no business selling tablets anyways. They sell software, and a race to the bottom doesnt work for them as well as it does for google.

I do agree that Win RT really shouldnt exist. A 7 inch Windows phone 8 device could be a fun side project or a stop gap until Windows 9 goes all touch and scales down to smaller devices.

I agree that MS should remain a software company and focus on that, however, I disagree that Google couldn't match Apple. However, at first in needed to break into the market. Nexus7 is that device. Soon there will be a Nexus10 (this holiday) that will be a bit closer in price. Then there will be models next year that creap up on price again. Its all about breaking into the market and then moving upstream. That is what Google is doing and it will be successful in the long run.

Android on phones took two years before they finally started dominating. That was due to breaking in at a lower point, improving software, and then hitting full steam. Now you have Android phones that are equal or better than iPhone, sell at same price, and have 50% of the marketshare. It will happen in tablets as well as now you have the dominate low priced models with quality software (as android finally has OS defined well for tablets).

MS needs to do that as well, but through OEMs with winphone. Not themselves with RT. Pro should also be through OEMs. The keyboard was a fantastic idea and definitely a differentiator. But the pricing is simply bad and will fail overall. Pro will do ok, but nothing shattering... just similar to laptops of same price.

Nexus7, 10, and Samsungs Note 10.1 are all great examples of how to compete with a iPad dominated market. Surface seems really nice, but RT is just a bad idea and pricing is horrible accross the board.