To save the iPad, Apple needs to copy Microsoft

RV_ · February 18, 2016

I have just broken the ice by installing a real estate owner database expensive program/mobile app on an iPhone, and set up and activated a new iPad Air. They are nice, but still phone OS' without the phone in most iPad cases. (Yes, I know that iPads, like Windows tablets, can be ordered with Wi-Fi and Cell service)

I have nothing against them but they suffer the same giant to me drawbacks that my two Galaxy Tabs had in 2010, and the reason they were sold and replaced in Jan 2013 by an HP x2 Tablet /hybrid, and a Lenovo Lynx tablet, both 11.6" Windows 8 tablets, not Windows RT. Windows RT was Microsoft's attempt to do what Apple and Samsung had done with cell phone Apps that could only operate on cell phone very limited hardware.

Microsoft was the only one making a full version of their desktop software work on machines designed to be computers, not mobile devices. They allowed their vendors HP Lenovo and others like ASUS make both the RT useless tablets as they were what Apple and Android had using 32 bit ARM architecture not the well developed x86 architecture.

It is important to note that the Windows Surface and the Surface 2, were both Windows RT, and both a giant failure, were both RT which was MS' attempt to use the same hardware with its limitations as Android and Apple phones and tablets which share the same OS' a copy of Apple and Android tablets. ARM architecture devices are not computers as much as App driven mobile phones, some called tablets which were not designed as phones and most could not make calls, as they were used at home or in offices. The full computer Windows 8/8.1/10 computer tablets started with the Surface Pro line, and the Surface 3.

I can't believe how every time I have a friend come by and ask to see my new Surface Pro tablet, they act like they know what it is because they have an Android or Apple Tablet and think it is the same. When I show them my Office 2010 installation DVDs, and the external DVD drive I use for the few remaining disk programs I have, and show them CCleaner and then put a Windows PC wireless keyboard and mouse from my desktop, and plug the full size USB receiver that was in my big main desktop, into the full size USB3 port on my Surface Pro tablet, it clicks.

Invariably they say Oh! That is a real computer? That small and thin and light? How long will it run? Just a few hours like a laptop? Nope it gets 7-9 hours of my harder usage.

I have tried to get that across here. But even in person some can't grasp it without using/playing with it.

Tablet sales are down worldwide and many have said that the industry is in crisis. Well that not entirely true. As you will see below in the article, some surprises are coming. Can Apple compete? This article's author makes a good case for making the iPads change architecture to x86 like they did their Macs and use the same Atom processors that MS and the other Windows vendors are using. Then to load OSX on their tablets at least.

I am finding folks acting as if the last three years almost exactly of my use of Tablets running regular Windows never happened and are thinking the Surface Pro 3 and 4, and the Atom powered Surface 3, are the first.

The difference astounds many.

On to the article which is a great suggested path to competition in the remainder of the decade.

"To save the iPad, Apple needs to copy Microsoft"

Excerpt:

"Apple needs to take a long, hard look at why Microsoft is managing to shift so many Surface tablets despite the iPad being a much stronger, better-known brand.

Apple might be able to sell more iPad Pro tablets than Microsoft shifted Surface units -- IDC estimates numbers in the region of 2 million for the iPad Pro compared to some 1.6 million for the Surface -- but with iPad sales falling, Microsoft may hold the key to the future of the iPad.

While the iPad is in decline, Microsoft is seeing strong Surface revenue growth.

I remember when I was an enormous fan of the iPad. What wasn't there to like? After all, it was a giant iPhone that brought with it the promise of so much innovation and reinvention. But a few years down the line and iPad sales are waning because the iPad concept has stagnated. It's still little more than a giant iPhone. I gave up on mine after I switched to the iPhone 6 Plus because while the 5.5-inch display is a ways short of the 9.7-inches of the standard iPad, there just wasn't anything that I wanted to do that I couldn't now do on my iPhone.

Why bother carrying two devices about -- three if you include the keyboard -- when one will do?

The iPad's Achilles' heel is the operating system and the fact that it's restricted to running apps, most of which are just revamped version of iPhone apps.

The iPad was nice and exciting while it was new, but it never became an essential.

Now compare this to the Microsoft Surface. Here is a device that excites me, and not just because of the hardware (though I have to admit that the hardware is nice). What excites me the most about the Surface is its ability to run a full operating system, which in turn gives me the freedom and flexibility to run full applications such as Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft Office, as opposed to the watered-down versions available from the app store. At the same time, it gives me the option to run cut-down apps from the Windows app store if that's what I want.

It's easy to disregard Microsoft in the hardware space, especially given its dismal performance in the smartphone market. But if there's one thing that the Redmond giant knows, it's PCs, and while the Surface has had a few teething issues, there's no doubt that it's a premium piece of hardware.

Which brings me to the direction that the iPad -- or at least the iPad Pro -- should go in, and that's an OS X tablet.

There is a lot more in the article here, with hotlinks and related stories: http://www.zdnet.com/article/to-save-the-ipad-apple-needs-to-copy-microsoft/

Jack Mayer · February 19, 2016

Derek, I could not agree more. That is exactly what I've been saying to people for awhile now.

Both the Android Tablets and the iPad are simply "big phones". But they do service a specialized market...... that is divided into two areas:

1) those who really only do consumption activities on them - eg. email, reading news, navigation, etc.

2) specialized application-specific uses, mostly of a dedicated nature. For example, the 8" android tablet I use in the truck ONLY for navigation with Co-Pilot. Oh, and Danielle uses it to drive a Blue Tooth speaker to teach line dancing. Dedicated functions.....I doubt that tablet has done anything else for a year.

So the tablets I contend are starting to fall into ONLY those categories.

For production, devices like the convertibles/Surface/ Hybrid computers are now really coming into their own. I don't think I would buy a tablet now UNLESS I had a dedicated-use application I wanted to use it for. You can now get a very nice Android tablet for under $100 if you do not have heavy processor demands, or a requirement for an exceptional display. Very good for dedicated apps like vehicle audio/video/navigation.

JMO.

RV_ · February 20, 2016

Jack,

I've tried to pass along here the radical new form factors for Windows computers. But folks have a preset idea that all tablets are basically the same. Hey bud, remember that Voyo Mini PC I got for $100.00? Check this tablet for $198.99

"Teclast X98 Plus Windows 10 + Android 5.1 Tablet PC - WHITE 167317001
Windows 10 + Android 5.1 9.7 inch QXGA IPS Retina Screen Intel Cherry Trail Z8300 64bit Quad Core 1.84GHz 4GB RAM 64GB ROM Cameras Bluetooth 4.0. Check this out: http://www.gearbest.com/tablet-pcs/pp_286366.html

You can have both and not have to learn how to dual boot them.

kurtsara · February 20, 2016

I have just broken the ice by installing a real estate owner database expensive program/mobile app on an iPhone, and set up and activated a new iPad Air. They are nice, but still phone OS' without the phone in most iPad cases. (Yes, I know that iPads, like Windows tablets, can be ordered with Wi-Fi and Cell service)

I have nothing against them but they suffer the same giant to me drawbacks that my two Galaxy Tabs had in 2010, and the reason they were sold and replaced in Jan 2013 by an HP x2 Tablet /hybrid, and a Lenovo Lynx tablet, both 11.6" Windows 8 tablets, not Windows RT. Windows RT was Microsoft's attempt to do what Apple and Samsung had done with cell phone Apps that could only operate on cell phone very limited hardware.

Microsoft was the only one making a full version of their desktop software work on machines designed to be computers, not mobile devices. They allowed their vendors HP Lenovo and others like ASUS make both the RT useless tablets as they were what Apple and Android had using 32 bit ARM architecture not the well developed x86 architecture.

It is important to note that the Windows Surface and the Surface 2, were both Windows RT, and both a giant failure, were both RT which was MS' attempt to use the same hardware with its limitations as Android and Apple phones and tablets which share the same OS' a copy of Apple and Android tablets. ARM architecture devices are not computers as much as App driven mobile phones, some called tablets which were not designed as phones and most could not make calls, as they were used at home or in offices. The full computer Windows 8/8.1/10 computer tablets started with the Surface Pro line, and the Surface 3.

I can't believe how every time I have a friend come by and ask to see my new Surface Pro tablet, they act like they know what it is because they have an Android or Apple Tablet and think it is the same. When I show them my Office 2010 installation DVDs, and the external DVD drive I use for the few remaining disk programs I have, and show them CCleaner and then put a Windows PC wireless keyboard and mouse from my desktop, and plug the full size USB receiver that was in my big main desktop, into the full size USB3 port on my Surface Pro tablet, it clicks.

Invariably they say Oh! That is a real computer? That small and thin and light? How long will it run? Just a few hours like a laptop? Nope it gets 7-9 hours of my harder usage.

I have tried to get that across here. But even in person some can't grasp it without using/playing with it.

Tablet sales are down worldwide and many have said that the industry is in crisis. Well that not entirely true. As you will see below in the article, some surprises are coming. Can Apple compete? This article's author makes a good case for making the iPads change architecture to x86 like they did their Macs and use the same Atom processors that MS and the other Windows vendors are using. Then to load OSX on their tablets at least.

I am finding folks acting as if the last three years almost exactly of my use of Tablets running regular Windows never happened and are thinking the Surface Pro 3 and 4, and the Atom powered Surface 3, are the first.

The difference astounds many.

On to the article which is a great suggested path to competition in the remainder of the decade.

"To save the iPad, Apple needs to copy Microsoft"

Excerpt:

"Apple needs to take a long, hard look at why Microsoft is managing to shift so many Surface tablets despite the iPad being a much stronger, better-known brand.

Apple might be able to sell more iPad Pro tablets than Microsoft shifted Surface units -- IDC estimates numbers in the region of 2 million for the iPad Pro compared to some 1.6 million for the Surface -- but with iPad sales falling, Microsoft may hold the key to the future of the iPad.

While the iPad is in decline, Microsoft is seeing strong Surface revenue growth.

I remember when I was an enormous fan of the iPad. What wasn't there to like? After all, it was a giant iPhone that brought with it the promise of so much innovation and reinvention. But a few years down the line and iPad sales are waning because the iPad concept has stagnated. It's still little more than a giant iPhone. I gave up on mine after I switched to the iPhone 6 Plus because while the 5.5-inch display is a ways short of the 9.7-inches of the standard iPad, there just wasn't anything that I wanted to do that I couldn't now do on my iPhone.

Why bother carrying two devices about -- three if you include the keyboard -- when one will do?

The iPad's Achilles' heel is the operating system and the fact that it's restricted to running apps, most of which are just revamped version of iPhone apps.

The iPad was nice and exciting while it was new, but it never became an essential.

Now compare this to the Microsoft Surface. Here is a device that excites me, and not just because of the hardware (though I have to admit that the hardware is nice). What excites me the most about the Surface is its ability to run a full operating system, which in turn gives me the freedom and flexibility to run full applications such as Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft Office, as opposed to the watered-down versions available from the app store. At the same time, it gives me the option to run cut-down apps from the Windows app store if that's what I want.

It's easy to disregard Microsoft in the hardware space, especially given its dismal performance in the smartphone market. But if there's one thing that the Redmond giant knows, it's PCs, and while the Surface has had a few teething issues, there's no doubt that it's a premium piece of hardware.

Which brings me to the direction that the iPad -- or at least the iPad Pro -- should go in, and that's an OS X tablet.

There is a lot more in the article here, with hotlinks and related stories: http://www.zdnet.com/article/to-save-the-ipad-apple-needs-to-copy-microsoft/

What does it mean in the quote that Microsoft is managing to shift so many units?

We are looking for something new, is the surface pro 4 the latest greatest one to get?

Jack Mayer · February 20, 2016

What does it mean in the quote that Microsoft is managing to shift so many units?

We are looking for something new, is the surface pro 4 the latest greatest one to get?

Your question is pretty open-ended. To give advice we would have to know more about what you want to do with the computer. The Surface Pro 4 is a great device, but it is not what everyone needs. There may be a better device for the function you want to accomplish, or for your budget. What are you going to do with it?

RV_ · February 21, 2016

I read that "shifted" to be one of the dang auto correct errors we see all the time. I believe if you read "shipped" where it says "shifted" it will make more sense to you too. I went to ZDNET and left that question for them there just now so check the comments at the bottom of the article Monday and we will have our answer, not just my best guess.

As far as which one I would suggest or if the Surface 4 is the latest and greatest, yes it is from Microsoft. And one of the most expensive, about on a par with the Apple iPad Pro but with a PC OS not a cell phone OS and does much more than any Apple or Android tablet available today. Microsoft also just made it easy for developers who have written Apps for iOS or Android to redo in Windows 10. So the Windows App issue will not really be an issue much longer if the demand for a particular App is there. With all the recently upgraded Windows 7 computers to 10, the demand for Windows Apps just went up to the multimillions.

So if you have Windows desktops at home, the Windows tablets are excellent adjuncts to replace the Windows laptops.

But for about half the cost, should your needs be just surfing the net, email, consumption, and Microsoft Office etc. (and cheaper than the Surface Pro,) their newest Atom full Windows tablet, the Surface 3, not Surface Pro may do perfectly for you. To be honest I can't tell much difference between my i5 Surface Pro 3, and my ASUS Windows 11.6" tablet, the T200 with the Atom Z3995 SoC. Just the full HD beats the ASUS.

So for good tablet use and any MS programs but not a lot of 3D CAD/CAM or high end Video editing, and work using the standard Windows programs, the Surface 3, not Pro, with the Atom is great!

For more power the Surface Pros are great.

So back to Jack's question. For doing what? And also What do you use now for desktop or laptop, OSX or Windows?

Biker56 · February 21, 2016

I love my iPad 2's 9.5" screen when it is mounted on the side drivers window in my MH and running Co-Pilot while traveling.

Or use it on my couch with the DirecTV app. To set/search programs to record or using the app remote to skip ads with it's one touch 2 1/2 minute skip on recorder programs on the Genie.

Jack Mayer · February 21, 2016

I love my iPad 2's 9.5" screen when it is mounted on the side drivers window in my MH and running Co-Pilot while traveling.

Or use it on my couch with the DirecTV app. To set/search programs to record or using the app remote to skip ads with it's one touch 2 1/2 minute skip on recorder programs on the Genie.

This is a perfect example of a dedicated use tablet. I use some tablets in a similar fashion - it demonstrates one of my "tablet segments" of use.

BTW, you could do that far more frugally with an Android tablet. But you HAVE the ipad, so that is a good solution.

RV_ · February 21, 2016

If frugal is the criteria getting a decent yet still mobile full windows tablet in the still very portable size, 11-12 inches eliminates the laptop and tablet, for folks already

RV_ · February 26, 2016

Hey!

If you need a dedicated use tablet check out this deal on Woot today for Toshiba WT8-B264 Encore 2 8" Tablet, Intel Z3735G Quad-Core, 64GB Internal Storage, 2GB RAM, 802.11n, Bluetooth, Win 8.1 32-Bit.

These are new, with a 1 year warranty - $119.99 plus 5 bucks Woot shipping.

Here:

http://computers.woot.com/offers/toshiba-encore-2-8-64gb-windows-tablet?ref=cp_cnt_gw_dly_wobtn

Review for it on Amazon 4 stars of 96 reviews: http://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B00RDE14KQ/ref=acr_offerlistingpage_text?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Jack Mayer · February 26, 2016

Nice. Would work well in a lot of dedicated-use situations.

RV_ · February 26, 2016

Others agreed as it is now sold out.

The Chinese ones are still close to those specs and that price point and load Android to boot! But those can be problematic for folks that cannot do a registry edit with clear instructions. My one Voyo Mini PC from GearBest.com with dual boot works fine but did need some inside work to get all English menus including notification on boot and shut down, where it really doesn't matter. I also upgraded to Windows 10 from 8.1 which they did not recommend and voided my warranty, which I knew up front and no issues so far. If I have to eat it later so be it. But it just keeps impressing.