Time for Microsoft to get aggressive with advertising and compare Win8 tablets to iPads
A buddy of mine told me he was going to get his kids an iPad. They’re young and he figured it was probably enough for them and he didn’t want to spend a lot of money like a PC but they would use it for school. Then I pulled up the Staples ad and showed him what he was missing. The Atom based tablet PCs share a lot – prices of $600 or less (the Lynx at $550 and the HP Envy X2 at $600 but with a keyboard); 11.6” displays; a tablet with keyboard option; 7+ hours of battery life; 64GB storage; touchscreens and of course they can also function as full PCs. A 64GB iPad is $700 by comparison. It took him all of 5 seconds to decide to buy the Envy X2. Why didn’t he make that decision without me? He had no idea the product existed. The idea of a tablet that docks and is a full PC in this price range wasn’t on his radar. And these Staples print ads are fine and all but that’s not really telling a story.
Bottom line is that Microsoft should be showing these things off on tv and telling the story of what people can be getting for their dollar. They may not think that the iPad is competing with Windows 8 tablets but if they don’t understand that then they also don’t understand why Apple owns the tablet market. Windows 8 tablets aren’t even in most tablet conversations and that’s the problem…there’s still an information gap and the current commercials don’t cut it. They need to get on the tv and go at them and show consumers what they could get for the same price.
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The clicking keyboard ads were great to pique interest. What should have happened was a follow up showing specific simple yet fun and productive features one by one. It didn’t happen and they are suffering because of it.
Everyone else is recognizing the importance of these moments but Microsoft.
I think part of the problem is OEMs are pushing their products as convertible laptops, vs. tablets that can be attached to a keyboard.
If someone is looking for a tablet, they may be turned off by a laptop (primary) that can also be used as a tablet (secondary).
The tablet has to be pushed first (as in no kb in the photos), and compared to the iPad. As important as the keyboards are, they need to be left as a footnote. Then when you get to the store, or online checkout, you can be pleasantly surprised that that a kb attachment can be had for $99.
Good point. I just took a look at the Dell XPS 10 which is a Windows RT tablet that you can dock with a keyboard that increases the battery life to up to 18 hours. It would be close to 10 hours without the keyboard. That kind of thing lets you work using the keyboard power and when you want to take it with you detach it and you still have 8 hours on tablet power alone.