Jerry Brito

Shortform blog:

A little torn on this. Granted, we tend to be reflexively anti-Microsoft at times, but this probably is the most-aggressive attempt to take on Apple we’ve seen yet, and it’s worth taking seriously. They took Apple’s biggest iPad weakness — the lack of physical keyboard — and banked the entire device on it. It’s a smart approach, but you know, it’s one that seems like it’d be simple for a Kickstarter to copy completely. It’ll be interesting to see how this affects third-party vendors, too. Either way, this seems like an attempt to take out the netbook — if they price it right, at least.

And that’s just it: they didn’t announce a price. Unless they take a loss, I don’t see it matching the iPad’s $499, in which case it is not competing with the iPad. So with what is it competing? Perhaps the lesson Microsoft did learn from Apple is that if your market is going to get disrupted, it might as well be you who does it. So I think this might be competing against themselves (and their partners). A PC for the post-PC world.

(Source: Fast Company)

How does Microsoft friend Facebook feel about this?

“In a photo on the company’s U.S. Web site, three businesspeople—one black, one white and one Asian are shown as part of a pitch for Microsoft’s business productivity software. In the same photo on the site of Microsoft’s Polish subsidiary, a white head is placed over the black person’s body, although the hand is not changed.” Click thru to see the pic.