There was a huge announcement by Microsoft this week that they will produce two tablets based on Windows 8 – Surface RT (Win8 tiles only) and Surface Pro (Tiles + Legacy apps). It was an interesting move by Microsoft, who hasn’t traditionally had a lot of success in the hardware business. My only guess on why is because their hardware partners just weren’t moving fast enough. No matter the reason, the promise is to have the tablets available for the holiday shopping season. Interesting strategy for a device that is really IT oriented and doesn’t promise to have hot consumer demand.
Even with all the broken promises, bad 1.o experiences and other turmoil regarding Microsoft, here is why I am excited about a Windows tablet. I have had an iPAD for 2 years now and am still searching for the Killer App. Oh, I have some pretty good ones, but besides media consumption, Evernote and MicroStrategy BI, I just haven’t found many apps that are organization and team-oriented – and that is how my business runs.
Except for the social media apps like Foursquare and Facebook, iPAD apps, and even apps for my android phone, are all created for individual use, not collaboration between team members. They don’t integrate well with existing legacy apps at my office, or support extension of my existing SharePoint collaborative environment. My hope is that the Surface tablets will bridge the ever-widening gap between line-of-business applications and on-the-go mobile technology.
The pundits all have their predictions, and I agree with some that Surface will probably not be a hot consumer electronic device, but it may just be the solution we are looking for that can extend our business environment in a secure and familiar way. Okay, that’s my 2₵.
Tricia Wilcox Almas 