On Monday, Microsoft revealed Surface, their new tablet running Windows 8. I want one -- depending on what it costs.
Microsoft's Steves Ballmer and Sinofsky made the announcement at a mystery event in Los Angeles and made it clear that Surface fixes what is wrong with today's tablets, hitting hard on some of the same problems I have with them. They seem to be designed with arbitrary criteria separate the needs of real business users. Sure, everyone loves using tablets, but everyone also runs into their limitations, mostly surrounding documents. Dealing with real documents, and even with short stuff like e-mail, is a series of compromises and hacks (sometimes elegant hacks, like this Logitech keyboard for the iPad).
Surface will be a "no compromise" device. It will, say the Steves, be a great tablet and a great document system.
At this week’s WWDC, Apple introduced a new application called “Passbook,” meant to function as an organizer for all your passes. It supports store cards, gift cards and coupons out of the gate, replacing their plastic counterparts, and providing an Apple-approved way to get consumers paying at checkout with their mobile phones. At first glance, it seems that Passbook’s launch is bad news for mobile wallet players like Square, PayPal, and others.
