No Bluetooth LE Stylus for Windows 8/RT -- WHY!?!?

[bilzkh]

This is so baffling it isn't even funny.

So here we have Windows 8 and RT with a bunch of pen-centric apps, e.g. Fresh Paint, One Note, Sketchbook and others, and yet besides the handful of tablets equipped with active digitizers, there are none to readily take advantage of a selling ability. Granted there's Synaptics with their work with Dell, but they've stumbled through the gate.

On the other hand we've got iOS with emerging BT LE styli support from Adonit, Wacom and others granting it palm-rejection and pressure-sensitivity. I thought Microsoft was aiming to take iOS out of the productivity/work equation, but it's Windows 8 which is finding itself pushed out.

Seriously, what the hell?!

I'd get it if Wacom/others are being reluctant to develop hardware and software solutions for Windows 8 at this time (despite the fact that there are many more non-Surface Pro Windows 8 users, e.g. Dell Venue Pro 8 & 11, Lenovo Yoga, etc). That would *not* surprise me. But where's Microsoft?

Can't Microsoft get Microsoft Research to maybe produce a BT LE stylus for Windows 8 and RT, perhaps one with immediate OneNote, Fresh Paint and PDF Reader support, and an open API for 3rd party developers?! The tech can also be applied to Windows Phone. We've got big devices such as Lumia 1520 which will clearly benefit from such a system (e.g. apps such as Fresh Paint, Papyrus and InNote).

Recommendation: Microsoft, please make a Bluetooth LE/4.0 stylus for Windows 8, RT and Phone. Release it as an accessory with OneNote, Fresh Paint and PDF Reader support, as well as API kit for other companies to support on any of the 3 platforms. This is a case where you have some momentum going for you, please make use of it. God forbid we enter a time where we have people think it's easier to write on an iPad than a Surface Pro.

 

[Laura Knotek]

I got the impression that RT was aimed at the consumer market, not the enterprise market. Surface Pro 2 (and original Surface Pro) come with a stylus.

 

[bilzkh]

I got the impression that RT was aimed at the consumer market, not the enterprise market. Surface Pro 2 (and original Surface Pro) come with a stylus.

The assumption here is that consumers wouldn't use a 'pen.' One of the highest selling accessories for the iPad are styli, and the image people have of the Surface -- I feel -- tend to include the pen/stylus. It's a strong feature, albeit not selling (perhaps), but it's one of those things that definitely wouldn't hurt having.

 

[Laura Knotek]

The assumption here is that consumers wouldn't use a 'pen.' One of the highest selling accessories for the iPad are styli, and the image people have of the Surface -- I feel -- tend to include the pen/stylus. It's a strong feature, albeit not selling (perhaps), but it's one of those things that definitely wouldn't hurt having.

That's a good point. Maybe we'll see styli for Surface 2 if there is more demand.

 

[bilzkh]

That's a good point. Maybe we'll see styli for Surface 2 if there is more demand.

I'm sure we'll see it eventually from some 3rd party source, e.g. Wacom, but it's a shame that it isn't Microsoft leading the way.

They've already got at least 3 key apps (Fresh Paint, OneNote Metro and PDF Reader) that can make use of proper stylus support. They also have a pre-existing market to tap into, i.e. the millions of Windows 8.x users with touchscreen machines. Even the idea that one could have a pressure-sensitive stylus with palm-block with any touchscreen Windows 8 machine, e.g. Yoga Pro 2, XPS 11, Dell Venue Pro 8/11, etc. is a good one. It enhances the value proposition. What's worse is that the competition, i.e. iOS, is already get this support from Evernote, Wacom and others, and this is bad.

On the other hand, if Microsoft actually made its own Bluetooth stylus with API available for developers, we'd see people come to appreciate and use apps such as Fresh Paint, OneNote Metro, PDF Readers and 3rd party solutions more than at present. I love these apps on the Surface Pro, but when I see them on another unit, e.g. Surface 2 or RT, I feel as though the latter's missing something.

And why wouldn't Microsoft Research do this? They're the ones who brought us Fresh Paint, Socl, BLINK, Office Remote and Kinect.