Ondrej Holzman At the beginning of September, Apple presents the new iPhone 6S and iPad Pro. At the end of the month, Google responds with its new Nexuses and Pixel C. In October, however, Microsoft, which showed the best keynote of all, will attack both quite unexpectedly, but all the more aggressively. Surprise and appreciative nods at both its products and its visage indicate that Microsoft is back. Or at least it is taking all steps to be a relevant player again in the field of hardware.
Just a few years ago, such a presentation by Microsoft was unimaginable. Two hours crammed with only hardware, after traditional software, development or the corporate sphere neither sight nor hearing. What's more, the two hours flew by because Microsoft wasn't boring.
The colossus from Remond managed to find two essential ingredients when cooking his presentation – a person who can sell you even what you don't want, and an attractive product. Similar to Apple Tim Cook, Microsoft boss Satya Nadella stayed in the background and Panos Panay excelled on stage. In addition, the innovations from the Lumia and Surface series introduced by him really caught the eye, although of course their success or failure has yet to be decided.
In short, Microsoft was able to create the kind of keynote that we were used to watching, mainly from Apple. A charismatic speaker, not sparing superlatives, from whose hands you would be able to take anything, attractive hardware novelties that don't just fit in, and last but not least, their perfect secrecy. Finally, and with the greatest fanfare, the Surface Book was presented by some commentators as the best "One more thing" product in recent years. It was exactly the moment with which Steve Jobs once charmed the technology world.
Just the fact that after Microsoft's keynote, Twitter was flooded with general enthusiasm and countless positive comments came from other times even the militant camp of Apple supporters, speaks volumes. Microsoft deserved the excitement that people have after the introduction of a new iPhone or iPad. But he can really follow up on a successful performance, which is just the beginning of everything, with his products sell?
Like Apple, against Apple
It was a Microsoft event, Microsoft executives were there, and products with its logo were presented, but there was a constant sense of Apple as well. He was reminded several times by Microsoft itself, when it directly compared its news with Apple products, and several times it was reminded indirectly - either by the above-mentioned style of presentation or the form of its products.
But make no mistake, Microsoft certainly did not copy. On the contrary, it even has an edge over Cupertino juice and other competitors in many areas, which was definitely not the case in the field of hardware until recently. Under Nadella's leadership at Microsoft, they were able to recognize their previously flawed strategies in the field of mobile devices and computers, and set the helm of a new direction in much the same way as Apple.
Microsoft realized that until it had Apple-like control over both hardware and software, it would never be able to provide people with a sufficiently enticing product. At the same time, it is to make people Microsoft products they wanted to use and not only they had to, is one of the main efforts of the new head of the company.
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The Windows operating system has a fundamental share in the profits of the Redmond company. In its tenth version, Microsoft showed how it envisions its future, but as long as only OEMs put it on their devices, the experience wasn't quite what Microsoft engineers envisioned. That's why they now also come with their own hardware that runs Windows 10 at full capacity.
"Of course we compete with Apple. I'm not ashamed to say it," said Panos Panay, head of the Surface and Lumia product lines, after the keynote, who presented several premium products with which he wants to both change the established order and challenge Apple with them. The Surface Pro 4 attacks the iPad Pro, but also the MacBook Air, and the Surface Book is not afraid to compete with the MacBook Pro.
The comparison with Apple's products was, on the one hand, very brave on the part of Microsoft, because whether it will achieve the same success with its innovations as Apple has with its own is still a lottery bet, but on the other hand, it is understandable from a marketing point of view. "We have a new product here and it's twice as fast as this one from Apple." Such announcements simply attract attention.
It is especially important when these announcements are supported by the product itself, which has something to offer against the one being compared in real life. And exactly such products Microsoft showed.
The trend-setting Surface line
Microsoft introduced several products last week, but from the point of view of the competition, the two already mentioned are the most interesting: the Surface Pro 4 tablet and the Surface Book laptop. With them, Microsoft directly attacks a large part of Apple's portfolio.
Microsoft was the first to come up with the concept of a tablet, which thanks to an attachable keyboard and a universal operating system, can easily be turned into a computer three years ago. The idea, originally frowned upon, emerged this year as possibly the real future of mobile computing, when both Apple (iPad Pro) and Google (Pixel C) introduced their version of the Surface.
Microsoft has now capitalized on years of leadership and a few weeks after its competitors, it introduced a new version of the Surface Pro 4, which in many ways already puts the iPad Pro and Pixel C in your pocket. In Redmond, they refined their concept and now offers a really elegant and above all efficient tool that (mainly thanks to Windows 10) makes sense. Microsoft has improved everything – from the body to the internals to the attachable keyboard and pen. Then he compared the performance of the new Surface Pro 4 not with the iPad Pro, which would be offered, but directly with the MacBook Air. It is said to be up to 50 percent faster.
In addition, Panos Panay saved the best for the end. Although in 2012, when the Surface came out, it looked like Microsoft was no longer interested in laptops, the opposite was true. According to Panay, Microsoft, like its customers, always wanted to create a portable computer, but they did not want to make just an ordinary laptop, as dozens of OEM manufacturers churn out every year.
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At Microsoft, they wanted to make the best possible laptop, which, however, would not lose the versatility that the Surface had. And so the Surface Book was born. In its essence, a really quite revolutionary device, on which Microsoft demonstrated that it also has the best of the best in its laboratories who can come up with completely innovative elements and procedures.
Just as Surface significantly advanced the field of so-called 2-in-1 devices, Microsoft also wants to set trends in the world of laptops with the Surface Book. Unlike the Surface Pro, this is not a tablet with an attachable keyboard, but rather a laptop with a detachable keyboard. Microsoft designed a unique hinge with a special mechanism for holding the display for its brand new product. Thanks to this, it can be easily removed and the full-fledged computer, which is said to be even twice as fast as the MacBook Pro, becomes a tablet.
Engineers managed to arrange the hardware components inside the Surface Book so well that while it offers the maximum possible performance when connected, when the display is removed the less necessary and heavy components remain in the keyboard and the tablet is not difficult to handle. There is also a stylus, so you can practically hold a chopped Surface Pro in your hand. That's Microsoft's vision for mobile computing. It may not impress everyone, but neither does Apple or Google.
The result of sympathetic efforts remains to be seen
In short, the new Microsoft is not afraid. Although he compared his innovations to Apple several times, he never tried to directly copy it, as others do. With the Surface Pro, he even showed his competitors the way years ago, and with the Surface Book he re-introduced his own direction. Only time will tell how successful his moves will be and whether he has bet on the right coin. But for the time being, it seems at least likeable, and nothing better could happen to the technology sector led by Apple and Google than a third complex player arriving on the scene.
With the aforementioned products in combination with Windows 10, Microsoft has shown that when it has control over all parts, i.e. primarily software and hardware, it can present the customer with a complete experience. Panos Panay at Microsoft deploys a unified design and experience across all products, and it's probably only a matter of time before a computer and tablet from the Surface series will also be complemented by a smartphone. He partially showed his vision in this area, where a smartphone can operate as a desktop computer, for example, in the new Lumias, but it is only at the beginning.
If the current general enthusiasm can also translate into an equally positive user experience, and Microsoft can actually sell its products, we can probably look forward to big things. Things that will certainly not leave Apple or Google cold, which is only good for the end user.
I do not know. I admit that compared to what MS has been showing until now, Win10 and everything around today is really great.
But compared to Apple, I don't like it as much as the article praises it. Mainly, there are some sentences in the article that go round and round.
In any case, even though the site is Apple, i.e. for Apple, I am glad that it also shows the latest Microsoft.
And I'm glad that more competition is coming for Apple. May he strive even harder…! :-)
I'm not saying in terms of capacity, but in terms of design, Apple is still ahead in my view. And what will be the user experience in the extension of own SW ft. HW or It remains to be seen how the whole combination will perform.
Thanks! :-)
If MS can saturate the market at all, the user experience probably will. But if it's as smooth as the presentation promises, I doubt it, after all, Apple has a 30-year lead in this strategy :-)
If only those fools from Mrkvosoft compared it with the latest Macbook pro, but taking a model without retina that is several years old is a bit out of line :D
A full-fledged desktop SW is key.
It is definitely a step forward and if it runs as presented it will surely find customers...
I certainly wouldn't laugh - such a giant has the time and finances to "rise from the ashes like a Phoenix"
It's kind of funny anyway. But somehow I don't understand why everyone is so desperate to copy Apple's design. If you look at the MS surface book, the aluminum body, the trackpad recess, the dark frame around the display, the keyboard, but also the logo on the lid / back of the display clearly show a strong inspiration from Apple. Why? Can't they find their own designers and come up with something new?
It doesn't seem like much to me that if they separate the keyboard, they lose half of the capacities. And they present it as an advantage, that it is then lighter in the hand...
It's a shame that the new wydle is riddled with spyware and that MS is doing data mining that even Google wouldn't be ashamed of. But this won't freak out the Facebook generation, used to snooping, or will it?
The problem is that if a person doesn't have enough money to buy a mac, he won't choose much, because there is nothing else that is really useful other than a widle and a real mac that is affordable anywhere else.
http://www.ubuntu.com
Well, I left ubuntu out, but what market share does it have, or can it at least do the same as OSX and Widle?
Go through this page. Your life will change.)
Heh lol I don't know where people keep getting the assurance that MS is snooping but good and the best Apple in the world doesn't
against apple products it works like a piece of excrement in cellophane
Microsoft is becoming an interesting company under the leadership of Nadel. In any case, he is starting to offer interesting HW, which was not the case under Balmer.
In my opinion, Microsoft has moved forward... The new Surface Book looks great, so do the mobiles, just the price is a bit higher, but I think it will go down after a month or two... I wouldn't be surprised if something similar to the Surface Book was presented by Apple soon, just more polished... I'm an Apple fan, but we're still not the first in everything, and sometimes we condemn something, and when Apple presents it, we cheer (fanatics will definitely not understand). This year, Apple was already too innovative, in my opinion, on the contrary, the next one will be weaker. Why will it be weaker? I think that new processors will be introduced on the Macs, which as we can see the Surface Book already has, the iPad will get a year old HW which will still be sufficient, even now there are no apps that would fully replace the iPhone 5, iPhones have now experienced a large number of innovations, which probably no one I didn't expect 2GB Ram, Live photos, 4K, 3D touch, so I think the 7 has a new design, a slightly better camera, a faster processor, and maybe I don't know what to call it, but I think the new thing will be Ratina 4K or 2K. The iPod will probably burn to ashes and maybe a new watch... Just my opinion.
I like that the articles about the competition are presented intelligently here, and ESPECIALLY that the discussion under the article is also 99% intelligent. This is not seen elsewhere.)
I hate MS. But he finally got rid of the Ballmer monkey and is finally getting back in the saddle. He will finally be competitive and finally move somewhere and maybe I will change my mind about him :-)
MS thumbs up for me :-)
Otherwise, the Surface would suit me better than the iPad Pro, it will definitely support virtualization when there is a full-fledged system :-)
GOD-IT'S A LAST NAME
YUCK
God, who is always copying from whom :) Apple also has copied elements, for example, the first Nokia had colored covers. But she couldn't sell it that well. Otherwise, I'm a Windows user, but iOS is also a great system. They are still better systems than android, I hope we can agree :)
PISE SEVROK 2028
Apple presents the iPhone 18, a great model with 15 megapixels and optics, which has 5 sapphire lenses and all photos have a purple tinge, but SLR experts say they take great photos. A usbC connector has also been newly introduced, which in the end of the world... the 18S model will soon have a retina reader. the battery life is enormous: the phone turned on after a week!
Wasn't Apple one of the first to release usb-c to its device? or the one who has had a lighting connector for several years, which is only now being approached by other phone manufacturers using usb-c? and you sucked the purple tinge out of your finger nicely.
When Microsoft still didn't understand what minimalism is.