First, let me say that the Microsoft does not get enough credit for the hardware build on the Surface RT. Microsoft had little experience in bringing out a hardware product and they got the hardware right and they did it on the first try. An outstanding job.
Second, since the Surface Pro is not yet available for independent review, I shall assume, for the moment, that the Surface Pro works as intended.
Having said all of that, I still don’t see how the Surface Pro can be a success for Microsoft. It is clearly a notebook, not a tablet. This was true of the Surface RT and it is even truer of the Surface Pro. (Thicker, heavier, lower battery life, etc.) You can’t hope to hit the target, i.e., tablets, when you’re not even aiming at them.
Finally, I used to believe that the Surface Pro would sell a lot of machines but do nothing to advance Microsoft in the tablet wars. Now that the pricing has been revealed, I’m not even sure that Microsoft will sell a lot of machines. Microsoft lists the Surface Pro at $899 but this is disingenuous since it does not include the cost of a Type Cover keyboard ($130) or a Touch Cover Keyboard ($120). This brings the price up to $1,029, which means that you could buy a MacBook Air, instead, and SAVE $30.
Does this strategy make sense to anyone outside of Redmond?
EDIT: Over at TechCrunch, Matt Burns argues that the Surface Pro is priced just right. What’s your take?