Microsoft Surface

Microsoft has just introduced its very own range of tablets called Surface. And this is likely to turn the whole technology world upside down. By having it's own tablets, it is side stepping its hardware partners like Dell, HP, Lenova, Samsung, who have been churning out desktops and laptops using Microsoft operating system. The partners will not be happy. Same goes for the rest of the supply chain like hard disk drive players such as Seagate and Western Digital. They will be badly hurt if Surface becomes successful as this will replace the laptops. Microsoft may not have much choice but to choose this route for its own survival; having seen the enormous success of the iPads in the consumer market and now beginning to gain inroads into the corporate world. Microsoft itself is already late getting into tablets. The Surface is a big but necessary gamble. It would also have to incentivize app developers to come onboard. Although it is way too early to even predict the success of the Surface, Microsoft has to make this successful. For it not to, it will mean a one way deterioration of its relevance.

One thing for sure, even though I am a keen user of the iPad and trying to move towards paperless work style, I am looking forward to the Surface. I write and review lots of documents and these are mainly in Word and Excel format. Somehow, when I open these documents on the iPad, the formatting usually goes bonkers. These may be due to different versions being used. I do not have much confidence that I am looking at the same document that is sent to me. I have to ask the sender to convert to PDF format before sending the document. If this issue can be resolved by the Surface, I would gladly have one.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad