Scratching the Surface: Could Microsoft's PC-tablet squeeze Apple?

Everyone loves the iPad. It’s clear in the coffee shops of central London through to the trains and planes of the developed world beyond – the slab of screen has become another Apple banker.

It’s also clear from the scramble of manufacturers aping the house that Jobs built that the market is becoming a battleground – and Microsoft have brought out the big guns.

The company’s new Surface tablet is a bit of a misnomer, mind. Sure, it’s got a 10.6in 10.6" 1366×768 touch screen, Wi-fi, up to 128GB of storage and runs apps – but it’s not really a tablet at all.

At least, not the higher-end version. The top Surface tab, we’re promised, will run anything Windows 8 PCs can handle.

While the Intel Atom processor hiding behind the screen is hardly going to be busting out max-settings Crysis on the bus, it’s essentially a notebook PC, able to run Firefox, Windows Media Player, Office, Steam – anything a leisure laptop needs, basically. And it comes with a case which doubles as a detachable fold-out keyboard/stand and mouse-thing.

It even comes complete with USB 3.0 ports and an SD card slot. This alone makes it so much more versatile than an iPad. Want to look at your snaps on the shiny screen? Pop your camera’s SD card in. Want to watch some films? Plug in your external hard drive. Want to swap a few songs over on your iPod without bothering to start your big PC? You get the drift. Frankly, I applaud Microsoft for including these vital ports which Apple seems to detest.

Personally, it’s exactly the sort of thing I’ve been waiting for. I love the idea of the iPad and have come close to buying before. But I just couldn’t see how much I’d really use it when I already have a laptop for the above tasks and a large-screen smartphone on the go. 

But the Surface truly promises to combine the best of both without making huge sacrifices like the iPad.  I can genuinely see myself taking the Surface out and about, but also word processing, file management, film-watching and web surfing at home. It’s ingenious.

Surface can connect to an  iPad or other devices via USB.

There is always a downside, though. For one thing, the resolution, while decent, is no retina display. Side-by-side with an iPad 3, Surface – like everything – loses out. 

Similarly, there are many who simply don’t want Windows on their device – people who like the simplicity and dependability of the Apple OS and iTunes, rather than updating drivers, fiddling with files and doing virus scans. I can see their point.

Price will be key, too. Price it too low, and other manufacturers will feel Microsoft is abusing its position (it doesn’t have to pay itself a license fee for Windows 8, unlike other tablet makers choosing the OS). Too high and the company isn’t taking advantage of its dual software/hardware standing, and people who like notebooks will just buy cheaper notebooks and the rest will stick with Apple.

For me, a £399 low-end, Windows RT Surface and a £549 Win 8 Surface would be perfect to slightly undercut Apple and tempt buyers away without going too cheap.

From a developer standpoint, Surface and Windows 8 is a good idea. That the OS shares the same core programming across Windows Phone 8, Windows 8 and the cheap-tab Windows RT should mean an integrated, focused approach from developers in the future, with apps able to be created across three platforms at once, easily. Meaning more to download, install and enjoy whatever Microsoft device you buy.

Whatever happens, Microsoft needs Surface to succeed. Tablet sales are still growing at an enormous pace, alongside smartphones, while PC sales continue to decline – and Apple is just watching the Windows-dominated PC market yield to an Apple-owned tablet one.

It’s going to be an interesting few years for tablets and PCs - the battle is far from won for Apple and iPad. It feels like we’ve barely scratched the surface.

Why Wii U will be brilliant - and ultimately fail

Gamers. We’re a fickle bunch. One minute, we want to waggle a white stick and pretend it’s a tennis racquet, the next we’re jumping in front of a camera pretending we can dance before tossing birds at pigs on the bog.

Five years ago, Nintendo hit the big time with the Wii, a console which offered everyone from toddler to grandma the chance to pick up and play something – cheap, cheerful, simplicity. It made hot cake sales look positively glacial. You don’t need me to reiterate how it became the best-selling Nintendo home console of all time.

Here we are in 2012, and Nintendo is readying the follow-up – a beefy, hi-def box with a massive, complicated-looking tablet instead of a Wii Remote – and no daft sports mini-games in sight.

Wii U looks brilliant. It’s got amazing 1080p graphics (you know, the kind PS3 and Xbox had five years ago) and a tablet with all the modern gaming buttons, two sticks and a massive screen in the middle.

Yes, it’s odd, but it looks like it will truly add something to gaming. 

At E3 we saw how we can blow up explosives on the touch screen in Batman. In Call of Duty, no doubt we’ll be able to view maps and manage weapons on the fly. In FIFA, we’ll see a pitch overview during the game to track players, and be able to quickly make subs and manage the squad without letting your opponent see what you’re doing.

It’s got motion sensors, so in Mario Kart U, we’ll already have the wheel right in our hands.

The best part? It’s WAG-friendly. We’ve all been there: half-way through an epic boss fight, or a MW3 deathmatch that we’re actually winning, and suddenly up pops the wife and/or girlfriend to moan that ‘Eastenders is about to start. Are you gonna switch your game off?’. For Wii U, it’s not a problem. Switch the action to the controller screen, pop in some headphones and just keep playing.

All of this is superb stuff, and Nintendo’s really been hard at work to innovate again. The problem, though, is that nobody really wants it.

Wii went supernova because it instantly struck a chord with people. You see the remote, and you’re curious. You see Wii Sports Tennis – or if you’re a female aged 20-40, Wii Fit, and instantly see the appeal. You pick up, play, and enjoy. It’s so simple.

Not so for Wii U. The console comes as standard with the big lug of a tablet controller as well as a Wii Remote and nunchuk. Then, there’s the Pro controller you can buy (effectively a PS3/Xbox controller clone), the balance board, the zapper, the Mario Kart wheel, Motion Plus (if your controller is from pre-2010), all confirmed to work with Wii U. It’s a veritable sea of white plastic, and granny will drown, fast.

No longer is it pick up and play. Most games will use the tablet, but for multiplayer will insist on others using Wii Remotes. Some games – likely Zelda – will use the Wii Remote instead. Pikmin 3 lets you use both at once. Just imagine some poor kid trying to juggle the massive tablet while flailing a Wii Remote and nunchuk at the screen, and you start to see the issue.

It’s not the end of the world. People aren’t stupid. Those interested in games and technology will easily be able to fire up the right controller in the right game at the right time, and will enjoy the benefits each one brings. People like myself – and if you’re reading this, probably you – will buy it, will love it and will desperately try to shove the tablet into the hands of our brothers/mothers/grans and random strangers at parties. 

But then you’ll have to sit and explain how it all works and which remote to use and when – and that instantly kills the console as an experience for the non-techno savvy. 

What Nintendo ­­should ­have done is make a Wii 2 with cameras, just like Xbox Kinect. Make Wii Sports 2, put online play in it, and make it all controlled via the camera alone. People would go nuts for it because it combines the brand they love (Wii) with a fresh experience they are yet to be tired of (unlike Wii in 2012). Then do the same with Mario, with Zelda, with Donkey Kong – whatever it takes to keep the non-gaming crowd interested. Now Xbox Kinect is taking the Just Dance and Wii Sports crowd - and will do even more so if packed in with a cheap, friendly Xbox next generation - while Angry Birds eats 3DS sales, one smartphone at a time.

Wii U will be a great machine, and when games like New Super Mario Bros. U, Zelda HD and even HD minigame collection NintendoLand arrive – people will buy it.

But people bought games for the Wii because they wanted to play Wii. People will buy Wii U because they need it to play the games  - just like 3DS sales, which only reached respectable levels when Mario Kart 7 came out. 

It’s going to be a tough generation for Nintendo, by comparison. The hardcore gaming minority will enjoy Wii U – for everyone else, Mario, Zelda and Pokemon will get them through – but that’s all. Wii U is no Wii 2.