How come the iPad is still more popular than the Surface?

[kyrax12]

I see people using the Surface and I find that it is much more functional than the iPad. Coming with a free keyboard and office is massive for productivity.

 

[Zodiark1593]

Brand name, familiarity, ease of use, ecosystem, all of the above. Most people getting a tablet don't look toward productivity as a selling point.

 

[cronos]

What Surface comes with a free keyboard?

 

[Crono]

The iPad is:
- cheaper
- more established because it was first
- a less confusing experience for media consumption and playing games
- not marred by the RT/Pro differences that the Surface had earlier
- an Apple product (quality or perception of quality and brand loyalty matter)

I love the Surface and Windows, but that's what Microsoft is up against, and it doesn't matter if it's a better device because an ultrabook/tablet hybrid that's going up against a very good Apple product has an uphill battle. The average consumer is going to go for an iPad most of the time, and that's not likely to change anytime soon.

Now if the Surface Pro were the same price as an iPad, you might see adoption skyrocket... but as it is right now, the Pro 3 is pitted to compete with the Macbook Air.

I am saying this as one of the biggest proponents of the Surface and Windows 8/8.1/10.

What Surface comes with a free keyboard?

Another one of those things that makes the Surface more confusing/annoying to buy than it needs to be. The product is constantly advertised as being powerful because of the keyboard, and yet it doesn't come with one.

 

[Dman8777]

Because no one buys a tablet to be productive?

 

[mmntech]

I'm going to assume we're talking about the vanilla surface. The Pro isn't in the same product class as the iPad, and they don't really compete. MS is going after the MBA.

Apple is the original and still makes the best ARM based tablets IMO. They've always been the one to beat. Their mature ecosystem helps to. If anybody puts out an app, it's usually on iOS first. It's a primary development platform.

Surface RT is a bit of a weird product line. Seems like Microsoft doesn't really know what to do with it. Three years on and the ecosystem is still underdeveloped. They also marketed them as a productivity device when they should have targeted consumers.

The original Surface RT was also pretty crappy spec wise. Outdated processor and a lower resolution display than its chief competitors. The Surface 2 was a huge improvement when it came out. It's still a nice tablet, but it barely gets any mention anymore.

I think if Microsoft wants to continue with the consumer priced Surfaces, they need to ditch ARM. Switch to x86 and adopt Bay Trail or AMD Mullins. That would streamline app development between all Windows devices.

 

[tsupersonic]

I own a Surface Pro 2, and I generally dislike it. It makes for a terrible tablet, too big & heavy. Some people will say tsupersonic, try the Surface Pro 3. I have, and it's the same thing. You see once you get used to the iPad Air or a Nexus 7 or any other normal sized tablet, the Surface Pro 1/2/3 feel heavy and bloated.

The Surface Pro 2 also makes for a terrible laptop. The keyboard is expensive, has no travel, and don't get me started on the "trackpad." I know you don't have to buy the keyboard, and a cheaper BT keyboard would do just as well. However, all the marketing from Microsoft show the Type/Touch keyboards. There are also no Windows apps that are worth having, but thankfully it runs full blown Windows 8.1, so it's nice to have access to desktop apps. The device itself is very expensive as you add on the specs.

The best features of the Surface Pro 2 imo are the Wacom stylus and the OneNote software. These two work in harmony to make for one of the best drawing/note taking device out there.

If you just need a laptop, I would NOT recommend a Surface Pro <x>. If you just need a tablet, I would NOT recommend a Surface1/2 or Surface Pro <x>. It tries to be both, and doesn't do either well.

 

[oobydoobydoo]

Windows sucks, that's why. On top of that... surface pro weighs like twice as much if not more than the ipad.... the screen isn't any higher quality. The SoC is faster, but the battery life is correspondingly worse..



But... the real reason people aren't flocking to SP3 is Microsoft is just not gonna compete with Apple on Specs alone. They will need to do something better than Apple... and it has to be much much better.

 

[Red Storm]

Define "functional"? When using a tablet (as a tablet!), I find Windows to be less functional/efficient than Android or iOS. The Surface is a nice laptop replacement, but as a tablet it's too thick and heavy, with an OS that tries to do too much and does not have the killer apps (basically the Google Collection) that I personally like to use.

 

[Graze]

Because as everyone already said; people tend to use tablets to consume content, not produce it and having a lighter, more afford and established device to do than on facilitates that purpose more readily.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

it probably comes down surfaces higher price, and the fact that there are similar, cheaper windows devices for people who want window

 

[StrangerGuy]

Because as everyone already said; people tend to use tablets to consume content, not produce it and having a lighter, more afford and established device to do than on facilitates that purpose more readily.

If they want to be productive they would use a bargain basement laptop which they probably already have a long time ago.

There's also the demographic like babies/old people which the iPad succeeds in appealing but where traditional Wintel would have never captured in the first place.

 

[dagamer34]

If the Surface Pro 3 actually sold 2 million units last quarter, then it's doing pretty well against the MacBook Air (which with all Mac sales last quarter at 5.7 million means it's going toe-to-toe).

As for the iPad itself, Microsoft needs to come out with a smaller 8" tablet running the mobile version of Windows 10 to compete with the iPad mini and iPad Air. Question is whether they deem wanting to make another product for that market when the Surface RT and 2 flopped because of Windows RT. Had the Surface mini actually been released with the same pen as the Surface Pro 3, I would have predicted a pretty good chance of success, though the same flaws that Windows RT had (having a desktop) would have remained. It's solved in Windows 10 though.

So my hope is Microsoft does try putting a smaller tablet with pen and Windows 10 mobile in the market, I think it would do pretty well relatively speaking.

 

[Commodus]

The Surface line's problem could be partly summarized by Microsoft's initial selling angle: "it's a PC!"

To Microsoft, this was the ace in the hole. Surely, upon hearing that you could run Office and Windows on a tablet, the masses would smash their iPads against the wall and run screaming to the Microsoft store. You could do more work on a Surface, why would you get anything else?

Only that's not how real life works. Many of the people buying iPads do so to get away from PCs. To a lot of folks, PCs mean work, complexity, viruses... the bad things in computing. And as much as Microsoft might hate to admit it, Office doesn't mean nearly as much as it used to for home users -- not enough that they'd buy a tablet with that in mind, anyway. Combine that with the Surface range's typically higher pricing and bulk, and it's hard to persuade someone just wanting a Facebook machine why they should drop $799 on a Surface Pro 3 when a $299 iPad mini 2 (or a cheapie laptop) will be as effective, but easier to use and cheaper.

 

[soulcougher73]

Price being the number 1 deal IMO. But there are other reasons already mentioned.

 

[sweenish]

I kind of wish everyone posting would say if they're talking about the Surface or the Surface Pro. It muddies the conversation significantly.

Between the Surface and the iPad, I can see why people would choose the iPad for things other than the name.

The Pro is better than an iPad. Period. It's not just faster, it makes the iPad look awful. It consumes content just as well, if not better than an iPad. It also has the added bonus of being what everyone thought the iPad was going to be.

Windows was not awful. Disagreeing with an aesthetic choice doesn't inherently make the entire OS awful. iOS is awful, in my opinion. You can't do jack with it. It's ugly, it's just as fast/slow as anything else out there (from personal experience). See how easy that was? Completely subjective.

The iPad is also not the original. Tablets existed years before the iPad. The iPad was the first to see wide commercial success. When I see tablets here on campus, I see just about as many Surface Pros as I do iPads.

 

[meester]

Windows sucks, that's why. On top of that... surface pro weighs like twice as much if not more than the ipad.... the screen isn't any higher quality. The SoC is faster, but the battery life is correspondingly worse..

I use an iPad 4, it weighs 660g. I have never felt that it is heavy.

The Surface Pro 3 is 800g, which is heavier, but not absurd.

 

[vi edit]

The Pro is better than an iPad. Period. It's not just faster, it makes the iPad look awful. It consumes content just as well, if not better than an iPad. It also has the added bonus of being what everyone thought the iPad was going to be.

I have both a Pro 3 and an iPad. The iPad is just a much easier, reliable, and supported device. It's got a million different games available to it for free or a buck or two and it's literally simple enough that a 4 year old can operate it and not screw it up.

I can't say the same for a surface. Yes, it does have a full Windows app market available to it. But it's nothing close to what the App store for iOS has for casual gaming, news and media consumption, and time wasting. An iPad is just a better device for tossing at a kid to "do stuff" or facetime with grandparents. My Dad won't touch a computer, but he's fine with an iPad. He's not scared to use it.

 

[Dulanic]

I kind of wish everyone posting would say if they're talking about the Surface or the Surface Pro. It muddies the conversation significantly.

It does the same thing for the consumer too... most have no clue there is such a large difference, if they even know what a surface is. Microsoft is trying to us the same name for largely different products and target audiences.

 

[bonkers325]

iPad has better apps for casual usage. My Surface Pro 3 is a work horse that occasionally gets used as a tablet for couch surfing (when I need to look at full desktop websites).

Simply put, they're two completely different products that do completely different things. No point playing the comparison game with these two since they are not designed for the same purposes. With that said, I use my Surface Pro more often since I like browsing full desktop sites instead of mobile versions. iPad = play w/ light productivity, Surface Pro = work w/ light casual use.

edit: to make it clear - the Surface RT/2 does not exist in my head, similar to how the Star Wars prequels and X-men 2/3 do not exist.

 

[Crono]

I kind of wish everyone posting would say if they're talking about the Surface or the Surface Pro. It muddies the conversation significantly.

Between the Surface and the iPad, I can see why people would choose the iPad for things other than the name.

The Pro is better than an iPad. Period. It's not just faster, it makes the iPad look awful. It consumes content just as well, if not better than an iPad. It also has the added bonus of being what everyone thought the iPad was going to be.

Windows was not awful. Disagreeing with an aesthetic choice doesn't inherently make the entire OS awful. iOS is awful, in my opinion. You can't do jack with it. It's ugly, it's just as fast/slow as anything else out there (from personal experience). See how easy that was? Completely subjective.

The iPad is also not the original. Tablets existed years before the iPad. The iPad was the first to see wide commercial success. When I see tablets here on campus, I see just about as many Surface Pros as I do iPads.

The Surface (non-Pro) is pretty much irrelevant going forward. Full (and cheaper) Windows 10 tablets from other manufacturers and Microsoft moving toward a unified Windows platform mean there is no room for the regular Surface anymore... and good riddance. Muddying the conversation is exactly what RT did; I can't tell you how many times I had to explain someone exactly what Windows RT was (I had a Surface RT a few months after it launched), or why it didn't run the normal desktop (x86) apps like a "real" Windows device.

You are trying to explain why the Surface (Pro) is better - and as a power user, you won't get any arguments from me - but the question was why the iPad is still more popular. The Surface Pro might be as common as the iPad on your campus, but that's not the situation overall in the broader consumer market.

I think inexpensive Windows 10 tablets are really going to compete against the iPad in terms of sheer numbers over time (just like how Android beats iOS in the smartphone space), but not necessarily the Surface Pro. The "Pro" in the name really does indicate the fact that it's more a prosumer oriented device than an iPad killer like the Surface RT was meant by Microsoft to be, and the price and feature set (including the excellent pen, for instance) really pit it against ultrabooks like the MacBook Air. The MacBook Air doesn't sell anywhere near as well as the iPad or iPhone, either, and it doesn't need to. The Surface Pro definitely is more of a niche product than the iPad, but students, business professionals, artists, etc are large enough a market to justify its existence. It's a pickup truck or SUV, not a Prius or a coupe. There's a case to be made for or against it being the best option, but it really comes down to your needs.

I would love to see a Surface Mini (supposedly the line was killed off right before launch), but Dell's Venue 8 Pro and the ASUS VivoTab Note 8 are fairly good for the price, if not as high quality as maybe a Surface Mini could potentially be. I still kinda wish Microsoft would make and release a next-gen Courier. Their labs are capable of some really amazing stuff, like the HoloLens.

 

[Ns1]

Most people getting a tablet don't look toward productivity as a selling point.

this.

But it's nothing close to what the App store for iOS has for casual gaming, news and media consumption, and time wasting.

it's got steam and internet explorer, and can also run xbox games.


I also have an iPad and SP2, and the use cases are vastly different. That said, I cannot remember the last time I picked up the iPad. My wife cannot remember the last time she's used my Surface.

 

[Commodus]

One of the problems of arguing over the Surface is that those who like the idea, like it a lot... and promptly forget that most people aren't like them. Think of the questions they're effectively asking:

Why wouldn't you throw out your perfectly good laptop and tablet to consolidate on one device? No one ever minds switching platforms, right? And surely most people want to use desktop apps everywhere they go, no matter how many headaches come along for the ride?

Answering those questions truthfully illustrates the problem, really. For the Surface Pro 3 to be your dream machine, there are so many conditions that have to fall into place: you have to be a power user who enjoys Windows 8, wants the OS' features in both laptop and tablet form factors, and hates the idea of having two devices so much that you'd rather toss out all of your existing investments than have to switch gadgets. That's a pretty niche audience.

 

[sweenish]

And you're ignoring the fact that when it comes to tablet tasks, desktop apps aren't mandatory. Skype, Netflix, Hulu Plus, Plex all have Windows Store apps.

I don't know that Youtube has an officical one, I don't think they do. But at least there is the desktop environment to fall back on.

No one actually ever considers the SP3 as a hybrid device. It's always one or the other. And that's just as wrong as your idea that Surface Pro users are the only ones in error about projecting tastes/use cases.

 

[midwestfisherman]

Because no one buys a tablet to be productive?

This! I bought my iPad for mainly entertainment purposes, social networking, and that type of stuff. If I want to be productive I'll jump on my laptop or desktop machine.