Who is the Microsoft Surface Pro For?
From The Verge’s video review of the Surface Pro:
It's the best surface by a long shot… But I’m less and less convinced that you want a surface in the first place.
Ouch. From the written review:
But if you’re going to buy a $900 tablet, get the decked-out iPad with LTE and 128GB of storage, and if you're going to buy a Windows laptop, check out the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga or the Dell XPS 12. Which leads me back to the same question Josh asked about the Surface RT: who is this for?
So, who’s the Surface Pro for?
My guess? Microsoft. Just like the Surface RT. Here’s what I said in January:
In short, tablets are where the growth is happening in larger-than-phone computing — and Microsoft has little presence there. In traditional PC sales, Microsoft receives around $50 for a license of Windows, and $67 for a license of Office.
The Surface RT, with its Apple-esque 30%+ margins, is a way for Microsoft to keep revenue and profit high, without manufacturers like Asus and Dell paying $50 a pop for a Windows license… Manufacturers who could easily switch to making hardware for Android — which lacks this hefty fee. Sometimes, Google will even pay manufacturers to use Android.