Microsoft Sinks Beneath The Surface

Dogs chase cars, but that doesn’t mean they know how to drive.

Microsoft is chasing the tablet market, but that doesn’t mean they know how to take control of that market and drive it.

Microsoft’s Flawed “Vision” For Tablets

I was walking down the street wearing glasses when the prescription ran out. ~ Steven Wright

Microsoft has lost their vision. They see everything through the lens of “Windows”. It’s distorting their outlook and it’s destroying their tablet strategy.

We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are. ~ Anaïs Nin

If The Surface Is Microsoft’s Answer To The iPad Then They Are Asking Themselves The Wrong Question

The Surface is supposed to be the answer to Apple’s iPad. It’s nothing of the sort. It’s much, much more of a laptop than it is a tablet.

The Surface Pro ain’t a blockbuster, true. But it is the best-selling Windows laptop model among those that cost $800 and above. ~ Harry McCracken (@harrymccracken)

That’s not a GOOD thing, that’s a BAD thing. The Surface is competing as a LAPTOP. It’s supposed to be competing as a TABLET.

Follow this link and take a gander at how Microsoft is advertising the Surface 2:

• Youtube Video Commercial

Not once during the commercial – NOT ONCE – is the Surface used as a tablet.

After seeing Surface 2 ad, I’m more convinced than ever Microsoft has zero clue why iPad is selling in the tens of millions. ~ Tom Reestman (@treestman)

Honestly, what are they thinking? Picasso said that “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” Not only isn’t Microsoft stealing the great tablet ideas of their competitors, they’re not even capable of COPYING them properly.

Microsoft won’t make a tablet if it’s the last thing they don’t do. ~ Alex Dobie (@alexdobie)

Neither Fish Nor Fowl

The problem with the Surface is that it’s a laptop with no keyboard and a tablet with no apps ~ Benedict Evans (@BenedictEvans)

Microsoft claims the Surface Pro is the best selling product in its class. What class is that? ~ Avi Greengart (@greengart)

Microsoft has the Windows RT market all to themselves. ~ ßen ßajarin (@BenBajarin)

Unfortunately for Microsoft, having the Windows RT market all to themselves is the equivalent a sailor having the bottom of the ocean all to themselves.

Denial Ain’t Just A River In Egypt

Surface 2. Why? ~ Sammy the Walrus IV (@SammyWalrusIV)

Because the only thing better than writing off $900 million is doing it twice? ~ Brad Reed (@bwreedbgr)

Microsoft’s Surface Strategy 1) Make mistakes 2) 1) + some more mistakes 3) Go to 1) ~ chetansharma (@chetansharma)

The Job It Is Not Being Hired To Do

Microsoft has improved the hardware, but made no fundamental changes to the software. ~ Avi Greengart (@greengart)

So Microsoft thinks the problem with Surface was specific flaws that are fixable, not the broader 2-in-1 strategy. ~ MattRosoff (@MattRosoff)

There’s something comical—almost deserving of pity—in Microsoft still claiming you can’t “get things done” on an iPad. ~ Tom Reestman (@treestman)

It would probably help Microsoft immensely if they were to understand the things that people wanted to get done on their tablets. But maybe not.

Same ol’ marketing message that iPads can’t do real work and a Frankenstein hybrid is the answer. ~ Tom Reestman (@treestman)

The ingenuity of the device blinds us to its utter uselessness. ~ Anonymous

Damn The Market, Full Speed Ahead

If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn’t need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around. ~ Jim Rohn

Not only isn’t Microsoft changing their tablet strategy, they’re doubling down, literally accelerating their progress down – what I think is- the wrong path.

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. ~ Charles Darwin

Fini

Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, ‘Where have I gone wrong?’ Then a voice says to me, ‘This is going to take more than one night. ~ Charlie Brown

It might take one a long time to explain exactly where Microsoft went wrong. But it doesn’t matter anyway. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Microsoft is convinced that they’re in the right. And so, inevitably, we can expect Microsoft to sink much, much further beneath the Surface before they even begin to attempt to reverse their course and try to save themselves.

And by then, it might well be too late…

It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory. ~ Peter Drucker