Amazon Immediately Steals Surface 2 Thunder

[stephen_az]

I think Amazon's announcement today shows just how steep of a hill Microsoft has to climb in winning people over to the Surface. The Kindle Fire seems to have finally caught up to the rest of the world, at least spec wise, and fairly or unfairly, Amazon is going to get way more press from their announcement than Microsoft received with theirs. Add to that the cheaper price and I think the Surface 2 may have a tough go going into the holiday season.

P.S. I'm really only comparing the Surface 2 here, not Surface Pro 2 (or whatever it's officially called). It's really its own thing.

Amazon is competing with Google and Apple for sales of media consumption devices. Unless some new marketing was released this afternoon, they still stress that in every way possible. I also don't get why people have to insist X or Y is stealing the other's thunder since 1) they are not even competing for the same market and 2) it is the time of year that everyone announces the products they intend to push for the holiday season. Was Microsoft stealing Apple's thunder by announcing the Surface products the week after IOS 7? Same goes for the impending new Nokia products. Quite frankly, the only company that comes off like they are in a perpetual amateur hour is Blackberry, screwing up the BBM release and announcing the Z30 with no fanfare in Indonesia. I expect every major player to be announcing all of their anchor products in the next few weeks. When should they otherwise announce them - February?

 

[azcruz]

In this part of the world, I can get an Android tablet for like $50. If a device runs Android, I am not willing to pay more than $150 which is the most expensive Android tablet I bought (the Asus MemoPAD) which I gave my girlfriend.

 

[Christian Kallevig]

Those are unreasonable expectations for a high quality device. The parts alone in a high end tablet cost more than that, not to mention assembly, shipping, etc.

This is the same problem that we had with netbooks. Cheap, crappy computers created unrealistic expectations and forever hurt the PC market in the end

 

[SwimSwim]

Does Surface 2 have an Amazon Prime app?

I could see a lot of people who subscribe to Amazon Prime wanting a device where they can stream their Amazon Prime content.

The Amazon services integration is indeed a great leverage point for the Kindle, however, despite me having a Prime membership, I'm still going with the Pro. It's capable of so much more, including streaming Prime the old fashioned way (via the browser). Is it the same as a built in app? Unfortunately, no, and I still miss out on downloading the videos offline, but I think the Pro is worth that sacrifice.

 

[Daylife]

Does Surface 2 have an Amazon Prime app?

I could see a lot of people who subscribe to Amazon Prime wanting a device where they can stream their Amazon Prime content.

Watch this video.

 

[SwimSwim]

I believe you also can download Prime videos for offline viewing now.

Only on the new Kindle Fire models, I'm afraid.

 

[SwimSwim]

Amazon is competing with Google and Apple for sales of media consumption devices. Unless some new marketing was released this afternoon, they still stress that in every way possible. I also don't get why people have to insist X or Y is stealing the other's thunder since 1) they are not even competing for the same market and 2) it is the time of year that everyone announces the products they intend to push for the holiday season. Was Microsoft stealing Apple's thunder by announcing the Surface products the week after IOS 7? Same goes for the impending new Nokia products. Quite frankly, the only company that comes off like they are in a perpetual amateur hour is Blackberry, screwing up the BBM release and announcing the Z30 with no fanfare in Indonesia. I expect every major player to be announcing all of their anchor products in the next few weeks. When should they otherwise announce them - February?

Very good point. This is, after all, when all the major players are getting their inventory ready for market in time for the holiday season.

 

[cj-m]

How about Amazon Cloud Music Player? Will that work on Surface?

I know that it works on my Latitude 10.

You need to download an app from Amazon.com which then lets you download/sync your music to your tablet. This music is then accessible from any of your music players - xbox, WMP, Nokia, etc

It works pretty well.

 

[SwimSwim]

Watch this video.

Why I love my Microsoft Surface RT, Part 2 - YouTube

Wow, I've honestly not heard of that feature before, except via Xbox Smartglass. Now I'm more looking forward to my Surface Pro 2, and I guess I now need to add an Xbox One to my shopping list...

 

[Pete]

The Fire isn't heating me with anticipation.

I'm waiting on my next-gen Paperwhite Kindle. I have the first generation one, it's great having a reader that's got the perfect reading screen and a battery life that lasts for weeks (if not months).

 

[thecaringkind]

Two different tablet spaces! The Fire tabs are 100% for consumption if media, its what Amazon does. It resells and repackages content.

The Surface is much more well rounded and can very much be used as a tool/netbook/notebook hybrid for productivity. Hence Office being built in.

If MS wants to make inroads into the consumption space they MUST catch up app-wise.

 

[SwimSwim]

Two different tablet spaces! The Fire tabs are 100% for consumption if media, its what Amazon does. It resells and repackages content.

The Surface is much more well rounded and can very much be used as a tool/netbook/notebook hybrid for productivity. Hence Office being built in.

If MS wants to make inroads into the consumption space they MUST catch up app-wise.

The problem is, while we tech enthusiasts are well aware the Surface is a far more powerful and capable device, obstacles therein lie in getting consumers to acknowledge that. To them, a tablet is a tablet, so they're hunting for the best deal. And for those willing to go high end, they're typically dead set on Apple.

That doesn't mean this won't change, but for now, we've got a long way to go on an uphill slope. The apps issue is perhaps the biggest hurdle. It's improving, but again, still got a long ways to go.

 

[ag1986]

Two different tablet spaces! The Fire tabs are 100% for consumption if media, its what Amazon does. It resells and repackages content.

The Surface is much more well rounded and can very much be used as a tool/netbook/notebook hybrid for productivity. Hence Office being built in.

If MS wants to make inroads into the consumption space they MUST catch up app-wise.

You're missing the point; nobody wants a tablet to do work. Most people come to work at 9, leave at 5, and they do not want or need a tablet to work on after this. And work is done on company-provided hardware. I agree that the Surface is a much more capable device than any others in the class, but is that necessary?

 

[snowmutt]

You're missing the point; nobody wants a tablet to do work. Most people come to work at 9, leave at 5, and they do not want or need a tablet to work on after this. And work is done on company-provided hardware. I agree that the Surface is a much more capable device than any others in the class, but is that necessary?

Actually, yes.

Mobile is the becoming new work space, just like it already has become the new media space. Yes, the Kindle is for "fun", and right now MS has nothing to answer to that. But what almost everyone on our threads miss becouse this is "mobile centric" site is that about 90% of MS's billions is still enterprise. XBOX, WP, streaming media, that is just a drop in the bucket. MS needs to be ahead of the curve in work-ready mobile. As the PC losses steam and laptops are being replaced, MS needs a variety of tablets at different price points for the bread and butter of their empire.

Amazon, Google, and Apple have the fun market, MS is still trying to find their footing there. But they are still way ahead in business. Surface products and mobile Windows on other OEM products will keep them there.

 

[Only Mama Knows]

Unless something has changed, that ability is extremely limited. I have also found the Amazon Unbox app for
Windows 8 to be barely functional. Throw in the fact that it only works for purchased videos, not rentals, and that makes it even less useful.

This is something new that will be exclusive to Kindle Fire hardware.

 

[Only Mama Knows]

You're missing the point; nobody wants a tablet to do work. Most people come to work at 9, leave at 5, and they do not want or need a tablet to work on after this. And work is done on company-provided hardware. I agree that the Surface is a much more capable device than any others in the class, but is that necessary?

I completely agree with this. Microsoft and their fans want this not to be true, but it is. If you're looking for a productivity tablet, then yes you'll look at a Surface (although you're probably more likely to go up to the Surface Pro; however, most consumers do not need productivity from their tablet. They want to surf the internet, watch movies, and play games. The Kindle Fire offers this option at a much cheaper price. The knock on previous models was that they were simply slow and laggy. With modern specs, this may no longer be valid, although we'll have to wait on reviews.

My ultimate point was that the Surface was talked about for one afternoon. Yesterday and today all tablet news is talking about the Fire and Amazon in general.

 

[cckgz4]

Laura, I see what you did there

 

[Michael Alan Goff]

As has been mentioned, these are two separate markets.

 

[coolqf]

Watch this video.

Why I love my Microsoft Surface RT, Part 2 - YouTube

SurfaceRT + xbox = music through tv or sound system.

This is done already through Apple and Android.
With apple, through AppleTV, with Android through Miracast. It's a standard feature that now comes with all apple devices and mid range to high end android devices.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

SurfaceRT + xbox = music through tv or sound system.

This is done already through Apple and Android.
With apple, through AppleTV, with Android through Miracast. It's a standard feature that now comes with all apple devices and mid range to high end android devices.

While it is true that Apple and Android have similar features, this is a capability of the Surface RT that Microsoft has not made widely known. THAT is why the video is of interest.

On a side note, I'm greatly disappointed with how poorly Apple TV streams media from other Apple devices. It is so haphazard and unreliable I shifted over to using Plex and Roku 3 to interact with my iOS and OSX devices.