Is Surface Dead or Dying?
This one is more rumour than the stories on Windows Phone and Groove Music Pass. But another popular rumour spreading this week is that Surface will be killed off in the coming years.
Frankly, I don't believe it. I could believe that certain members of the lineup could be axed. Namely the Surface Studio and Laptop. But the Surface Pro and even the Surface Book seem to meet some more practical demands and have enough of a following to make them viable.
Surface Studio is simply too expensive. And I'm talking about the US price. With the Canadian dollar being where it is, it isn't uncommon for something to be priced reasonably for the US market and then be far more unattainable in the Canadian market. But the Surface Studio is simply too expensive anywhere. I don't think this means it NEEDS to be killed. I mean, I think Microsoft knew when they released the product that it was too expensive for typical consumers. So, it may be meeting it's quotas. Of course, it is always possible for something to meet or even exceed it's expectations and still be determined to no longer be viable.
The Surface Laptop, as many have pointed out, has an entirely different problem. It is JUST another premium Laptop. It isn't really special in any discernable way. And while it is perhaps comparably affordable in some markets to other premium devices in the same category, Microsoft isn't really established in the premium laptop market. And, let's face it; they don't have the greatest luck with product launches. New products often face months of issues in firmware and software and often even manufacturing issues. Out of the entire Surface lineup, the Laptop is the only one that doesn't even tick the "I'd buy it if I had the cash to blow" check box.
Surface Book and Surface Pro on the other hand are a little better off. The Surface Pro has made a name for itself. And the positives of that name outweigh the negatives for many. The device is still a much better design than the competitions (in my opinion) and can be had at a myriad of price points. I feel the higher spec'd configurations are over priced, but people still buy them.
The Surface Book on the other hand has an innovative hinge and locking mechanism which doesn't say anything about the products except that it can draw attention from that alone. The keyboard with the discrete GPU and extra battery life also draws some good attention. Windows tablets often suffer from being under powered. And I can agree with Microsoft's assertion that most times, the power deficit is most noticeable when in a laptop configuration.
I can live with a tablet with less than stellar performance. I don't want those same limitations in a laptop. And, I've seen enough people online talking about their Surface Books to know that at least some more mainstream consumers are buying them.
For these reasons, I can't really see Microsoft killing the Surface lineup entirely. It would be rather painless to abandon one or both of the Studio and Laptop. But much more painful to abandon everything.
That being said... I've always felt that the Nexus approach from Google made more sense than the Surface approach. But, any bridges they may be concerned about are already burnt and it makes sense to keep some skin in the game.
And, even killing specific devices is a little overkill. There is little reason why they can't simply take tweaks to the lineups further in a next gen version of these devices. With the time that has passed, it might be possible with the Studio for example to focus more on bringing prices down than keeping the pace technologically. And the for the Surface Laptop, trying to find something to add to it to make it worthy of competing in such a crowded segment. I think they have more wiggle room with the Studio. But hey! Always possible.
Frankly, I don't believe it. I could believe that certain members of the lineup could be axed. Namely the Surface Studio and Laptop. But the Surface Pro and even the Surface Book seem to meet some more practical demands and have enough of a following to make them viable.
Surface Studio is simply too expensive. And I'm talking about the US price. With the Canadian dollar being where it is, it isn't uncommon for something to be priced reasonably for the US market and then be far more unattainable in the Canadian market. But the Surface Studio is simply too expensive anywhere. I don't think this means it NEEDS to be killed. I mean, I think Microsoft knew when they released the product that it was too expensive for typical consumers. So, it may be meeting it's quotas. Of course, it is always possible for something to meet or even exceed it's expectations and still be determined to no longer be viable.
The Surface Laptop, as many have pointed out, has an entirely different problem. It is JUST another premium Laptop. It isn't really special in any discernable way. And while it is perhaps comparably affordable in some markets to other premium devices in the same category, Microsoft isn't really established in the premium laptop market. And, let's face it; they don't have the greatest luck with product launches. New products often face months of issues in firmware and software and often even manufacturing issues. Out of the entire Surface lineup, the Laptop is the only one that doesn't even tick the "I'd buy it if I had the cash to blow" check box.
Surface Book and Surface Pro on the other hand are a little better off. The Surface Pro has made a name for itself. And the positives of that name outweigh the negatives for many. The device is still a much better design than the competitions (in my opinion) and can be had at a myriad of price points. I feel the higher spec'd configurations are over priced, but people still buy them.
The Surface Book on the other hand has an innovative hinge and locking mechanism which doesn't say anything about the products except that it can draw attention from that alone. The keyboard with the discrete GPU and extra battery life also draws some good attention. Windows tablets often suffer from being under powered. And I can agree with Microsoft's assertion that most times, the power deficit is most noticeable when in a laptop configuration.
I can live with a tablet with less than stellar performance. I don't want those same limitations in a laptop. And, I've seen enough people online talking about their Surface Books to know that at least some more mainstream consumers are buying them.
For these reasons, I can't really see Microsoft killing the Surface lineup entirely. It would be rather painless to abandon one or both of the Studio and Laptop. But much more painful to abandon everything.
That being said... I've always felt that the Nexus approach from Google made more sense than the Surface approach. But, any bridges they may be concerned about are already burnt and it makes sense to keep some skin in the game.
And, even killing specific devices is a little overkill. There is little reason why they can't simply take tweaks to the lineups further in a next gen version of these devices. With the time that has passed, it might be possible with the Studio for example to focus more on bringing prices down than keeping the pace technologically. And the for the Surface Laptop, trying to find something to add to it to make it worthy of competing in such a crowded segment. I think they have more wiggle room with the Studio. But hey! Always possible.
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