A Look At Competitors to the Surface and iPad 193
"Asus and other Microsoft OEM partners have also launched their own versions of Windows RT tablets that will compete with Microsoft's Surface. It's interesting to see the different design approaches being taken, some of which are similar to Android devices currently on the market. The Asus Vivo Tab RT, for example, is based on a 1.3GHz Tegra 3 SoC with 2GB of DDR3 memory, 32GB or 64GB of on board Flash storage, and looks a lot like their Transformer Prime 10-inch slate. The internal electronics are similar to Surface, with NVIDIA's Tegra 3 claiming the lion's share of Windows RT designs at launch. Microsoft's new touch-centric OS handles smoothly on the tablet and performance looks to be impressive, especially with respect to multitasking and application switching."
There's also the newly-launched Samsung Galaxy Note II (Android-based, and a so called "phablet," rather than a tablet), the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga (an upcoming Windows RT tablet with a keyboard permanently attached), and the Archos 101 XS.
Re:what does RT do that the ipad doesn't? (Score:5, Interesting)
He asked the obvious followup (Score:5, Interesting)
You didn't answer the question. He asked why there has to be one platform.
There's no need to answer that because that answer is obvious. There does not need to be one platform.
Then the obvious question after that is, why is Windows RT capable of BEING another platform enterprises would want to use?
My answer to that would be; it can be an enterprise platform even just resting on Office suppot. But it will not be replacing iPads, it will be replacing laptops for some people that only need office (say secretaries or some executives).
Corrections (Score:4, Interesting)
Office built in for free
That is the biggest draw for sure.
Expandable storage
Only for media.
More peripheral device support
The iPad at this point has a greater range of peripheral support.
More form factors (foldable hybrid, detachable screen, pure tablet, etc.)
With all of the accessories I also think the iPad has the upper hand here. You can buy a ruggedized waterproof iPad case for example...
Open file system for managing and organizing files
Which non-technical users do not want.
Networking for connecting to other PCs, transferring files, serving media, etc.
Which the iPad also does.
Windows 8 tablets like the Surface pro are for Enterprise. There, the list for what Windows 8 does over iPad is much much longer.
The Surface Pro is not an iPad competitor. It is a Macbook Air competitor.
In fact I'm not sure if the same is not also true of Surface RT...