Quote:
Originally Posted by leebase
I watched the presentation. Other than "fits in a pocket", I don't see why any/all of the good ideas can't be implemented on any table, Android or iOS. I do think they've done some nice work with making the software work nice across two screens. That would work just as nicely across two windows on the same screen. Both Android and iOS support this on their tablets.
The nice integration between the Surface Duo Android apps and Windows...I definitely want to see that broadly adopted.
A two screen device with a hinge....I'm just not seeing the extra goodness over a simple flat tablet....certainly not anywhere close to the price premium.
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Well, for starters it fits in a pocket instead of a briefcase.
And dual screens are less fragile than current foldable screens.
Plus it shows the way for future products, if foldable screens get more durable and drop in price.
And it supports pen and ink as a data type. How many tablets do it natively, everywhere on Android? How many android tablets support two windows with two arbitrary apps at once?
It's not for you.
It's not for me, either.
But that doesn't mean it's not for *anybody*.
People said much the same about Ultrabooks; too expensive, just a thinner laptop, no optical drive...
It's a niche product: as in, it's not for everybody. Just enough to justify the R&D (not trivial) and make a reasonable product. It's not a mainstream product but ask yourself, is any $1400 phone a mainstream product? Or tablet?
Is HoloLens? Surface Hub? Surface Studio? Even Surface Laptop?
None is mainstream.
Yet MS is raking in Billions annually off its Surface hardware.
All are expensive, all part of a unified *corporate* IT ecosystem, tied together by Microsoft 365. And all are inspiring Me2 copies, like Google's Jamboard, Apple's mythical Augmented Reality gadget coming... Real. Soon. Now...
Industry leadership isn't just a matter of being the only supplier of a given category: there's also opening up new categories that start as niches but expand to become major categories on their own, bring in competitors for a slice of the pie. Think: Sony eReader, Echo, Apple Watch.
Duo could be another Echo...
...or it could be another eVilla.
Only time will tell how many people find Duo worth *their* money.
It's not worth my money now but maybe one of its descendants...?
TBD.