No, q, you missed it. Microsoft is planning to SELL this as a Microsoft product. They very plainly stated that this was THEIR PRODUCT... to be sold as a product. . . along with the Xbox 360, and their software products. It is NOT a reference product. This is cutting their partners off at the pass. And it IS a mistake.
Two, the cover is the keyboard which was not available in the cover of iPad.
Excuse me, but you don't know what you are talking about. Keyboard covers have been available for iPads for about two years now from third party suppliers. . . this is nothing new. They are not too popular. One must find a flat surface to use one on. I had one for my first generation iPad... I gave it to my daughter when I gave that iPad to her when I upgrade to the New iPad.
Three, tablets are everywhere for MS field users - heck of a lot more than iPads
Yes, tablets have been available for MS field users. But NOT a lot more than iPads. iPads outsold every single MS tablet ever sold in the first month they were on the market.
What business people need is a lightweight device that allows them all the features of their Office. There is a USB too, so loads of big files can be dropped on this for presentations.
With my iPad, I have access to create and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint compliant documents, access every document on my desktop computer back at my office, instantly... without carrying them with me. The data is secure, even if the iPad gets stolen. I can do that to a Mac or a Windows PC. My storage is unlimited on the Cloud, instant access. . . and I can send presentations to any device for presentations or show it on a screen that far outshines ANY laptop or the surfaces instantly. In fact, the resolution of the iPad is far greater than the screen they used to do their "Surface" demonstration on and in fact is greater than any HD device on the market today! With a $29 adaptor, I can send anything I can see on my iPad to any HDMI device, projector, TV, etc., including presentations. So what DON'T businesses have already in an iPad... or an iPhone.
If I want or need to using Microsoft Office, I can actually do that too... by using my iPad to access them on my computer back at the office and working on a virtual desktop on my iPad. That works too. Then I can have the document on my iPad. But that is not necessary as most things can be done in Apple Pages, which can create Word documents natively.
I do all of these things routinely, on my New iPad... and did them before on my first generation iPad.
Yes I know plenty of folks using the iPad for e-mail,task lists and calendar functions, but they still go back to their desktop and do work on the Network in the enterprise.
Microsoft has sold millions and millions of mice, keyboards, peripherals for PC’s yet the secondary market is still huge. It’s a gamble for them to do this and of course could fall flat on their face. However if it succeeds in a big way the other manufacturers will be able to offer alternatives, something you can’t do with Apple. Also look at Google. They have offered their own branded phones and will be offering up their own branded tablet soon. They don’t control the manufacturing of it but they completely controlled the design and branding. Yet Google’s Nexus line of phones aren’t the best selling, they are a reference of sort for other manufacturers to attain to.