Where Microsoft Surface fits into the post-PC era

Phillip Smith says Apple has fully embraced the post-PC world, while Microsoft remains rooted in the old era. That's possible, but the post-PC age is still unfolding—and Microsoft has a foot in both camps.

The post-PC era is so young, we still don’t know where it is going.

Microsoft’s double-edge strategy

Microsoft is running two Surface lines: one with Windows 8, the other with Windows RT—each staking out different turf in the space between PC and tablet

Both Surfaces are closer to the PC model than Apple’s iPad. They are stepping-stones on the post-PC path. The iPad was a great leap forward. Although Apple and Microsoft are heading in roughly the same direction, their tracks are not parallel.

The Windows 8 version is, essentially, a PC dressed in tablet clothes. It runs PC software and will largely be used as a PC replacement.

Surface barely exists without a keyboard

Microsoft’s subliminally emphasises this in all the promotional material – you almost never see a Surface tablet without a keyboard. Which is not a huge step from the Ultrabook.

The more tablet-like Windows RT device will only run apps from Microsoft’s app store and it offers better battery life.

Presumably corporations will love the Windows 8 tablet as it stays in their comfort zone. The RT device is more likely to appeal to consumers.

While many Surface customers will at least have considered an iPad before opting for Microsoft’s tablet. It won’t be true the other way around.

Think Ultrabook

You can connect the dots like this:

• Old school PC,
• Ultrabook,
• Touch screen Ultrabook
• Windows 8 Surface
• Windows RT Surface
• iPad.

Sure Windows 8 is a brave, risky, out-on-a-limb departure for Microsoft. But it is still Windows. It is still essentially a personal computer operating system. Even on a tablet. Even when reworked for touch controls. Maybe not so much with RT, but even that version is still a PC operation system.

Underlining this, Surface runs Microsoft Office. An umbilical cord back to the PC mothership.

Sure, there are people who use iPads like PCs, but one can also work on those devices in an entirely non-PC like manner. Theoretically that’s also a possibility on the Surface. I just don’t expect many Surface users will end up using it that way.

None of this is about one device being better or worse. They are tools designed from different philosophical perspectives and, best of all, they offer a real choice, not just cosmetic differences.