So Predictable (Premium)

The initial reaction to Microsoft's new Surface Go has been as polarizing as it was predictable. So let's retrench.

"The Surface Go is an iPad killer!" the Windows enthusiast blogs are shrilly claiming. I assume this is a vain attempt to block out their inner disappointment that Microsoft is foisting this low-end device on the world instead of the Andromeda dream device they think is going to simultaneously solve all their problems and reverse Microsoft's mobile defeats.

"The Surface Go is no iPad killer!" the equally shrill Apple blogs proclaim, circling the virtual wagons.

Good news, everyone. They're both wrong.

Surface Go has as small a chance of "killing"---maybe we should just say "outselling"---the iPad as does any other PC. But then, the iPad likewise has no chance of defeating the PC in its current form either.

Why? They're different devices. Surface Go doesn't directly compete with the iPad, not really. Its closest competitor, aside from other low-end and mid-market Windows PCs, is the emerging market for premium Chromebooks. A market that includes traditional laptops, tablets, and 2-in-1s.

Chromebook is why Surface Go exists. More specifically, the success of Chromebook. And the expansion of Chromebook into new form factors. And into new markets. Including, yes, business.

As I've noted many times, Microsoft took Surface down a premium-only path in 2016. And Surface Go seems to refute that strategy, given its low-ball pricing. But that's a simplistic view. Surface Go is indeed a premium product when compared to the other PCs and Chromebooks with which it competes.

This confuses people. Some will do the math on Surface Go and note that the cost of a decent model ($550) with a Type Cover (another $100) pushes this product right out the running for cash-strapped schools, students, families, and individuals.

Right. It does. But that's kind of the point: Like Apple products, Surface is aimed at the higher-end of each segment it targets. Microsoft specifically designs these things to be aspirational. And it wants to influence other hardware makers to up the quality of their own products. Please understand that other PC makers, with their economics of scale, should be able to sell equivalent-quality PCs for less than Microsoft can. That's the nudge that Microsoft is making here.

We will need to wait and see whether Microsoft can be as successful with Surface Go as it was previously with Surface Pro. But please let me remind everyone in the audience that products like iPad Pro and Pixelbook would not even exist had Microsoft not made Surface Pro and inspired other PC makers to follow suit with similar designs. The company, in effect, did create a new product category.

We will also need to wait and see whether the performance of this device---allegedly much better than that of Surface 3 and even better than that of Surface Pro 3---is workable in the real world. But my experience tells me that the issue wil...