The post-morten has begun on why Microsoft Surface tablets have failed so spectacularly. Plenty of opinions are being offered, but one caught my eye. Nick Bilton of the New York times has written a blog entry called “Why the Surface RT Failed and the iPad Did Not” and he makes this argument:
When Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, announced the Surface tablets last year, he stood on stage and touted a number of new and exciting features to try to separate the company’s offerings from the iPad. Among the new gizmos were additional ports, a USB drive, a microSD memory card slot, the ability to use a pen with the Surface Pro and a built-in flip-up stand. Pens sold by Microsoft also work with the Surface RT.
Just thinking about all those options is enough to make your head spin.
Today’s consumers don’t want options. They are impatient. They want to tear their new shiny gadget from the box and immediately start using it. They don’t have time to think about SD cards or USB drives or pens or flip stands.
The Surface RT didn’t allow that. Customers had to think about it.
I’m not sure I agree with that. Lots of things are complex and full of options. Cars for example fit this bill. That doesn’t mean that they turn off consumers. And while I agree that the Twitter generation can be impatient, they will still take the time and effort to learn a new piece of technology. I think that the failure of Surface has reasons other than what the author has stated. Perhaps Microsoft didn’t communicate the value proposition of the Surface in a way that would lure people away from the iPad? Perhaps it was caught in the backdraft of the failure of Windows 8 to set the world on fire? Who knows? But I do know that by the time we’re through looking for the reasons why Surface flopped, lack of simplicity will not be one of them.
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This entry was posted on July 22, 2013 at 2:58 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Microsoft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Surface Tablets Flopped Because Of Lack Of Simplicity: NYT
The post-morten has begun on why Microsoft Surface tablets have failed so spectacularly. Plenty of opinions are being offered, but one caught my eye. Nick Bilton of the New York times has written a blog entry called “Why the Surface RT Failed and the iPad Did Not” and he makes this argument:
When Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, announced the Surface tablets last year, he stood on stage and touted a number of new and exciting features to try to separate the company’s offerings from the iPad. Among the new gizmos were additional ports, a USB drive, a microSD memory card slot, the ability to use a pen with the Surface Pro and a built-in flip-up stand. Pens sold by Microsoft also work with the Surface RT.
Just thinking about all those options is enough to make your head spin.
Today’s consumers don’t want options. They are impatient. They want to tear their new shiny gadget from the box and immediately start using it. They don’t have time to think about SD cards or USB drives or pens or flip stands.
The Surface RT didn’t allow that. Customers had to think about it.
I’m not sure I agree with that. Lots of things are complex and full of options. Cars for example fit this bill. That doesn’t mean that they turn off consumers. And while I agree that the Twitter generation can be impatient, they will still take the time and effort to learn a new piece of technology. I think that the failure of Surface has reasons other than what the author has stated. Perhaps Microsoft didn’t communicate the value proposition of the Surface in a way that would lure people away from the iPad? Perhaps it was caught in the backdraft of the failure of Windows 8 to set the world on fire? Who knows? But I do know that by the time we’re through looking for the reasons why Surface flopped, lack of simplicity will not be one of them.
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This entry was posted on July 22, 2013 at 2:58 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Microsoft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.