It is no secret that Apple has a long history or ignoring the needs of enterprise users and has focused its attention on the consumer market. With a half-hearted approach to enterprise support at best, Apple projected an attitude that seemed to say, "Here's what we've got, take it or leave it." In response, many in the technical community looked askance at the company's offerings and did their darndest to keep Apple products out of the corporate network.
Surface's distribution in the commercial market will be phased, according to Microsoft. However, a number of solution providers have commented that they are wary of waiting and are moving on to other tablet offerings.
A number of solution providers last week stated that they are providing competing tablets as a result of being unable to resell Microsoft's Surface and Surface Pro tablets.
Strong tablet growth is being experienced by Somerset, New Jersey-based SHI International's mobile device business, and this includes some sales of Microsoft's Surface tablets.
During Q1 and Q2 of this year, SHI International noted an 11.75 percent revenue increase, and this is a result of an important surge in mobile device sales growth. A 103 percent year-over-year jump was experienced by vendors like Samsung during Q2, and Apple reported iPad sales increases (of 64 percent) in the same period.
Microsoft solution providers have expressed disappointment over the software giant's persistent unwillingness to allow them to sell the Surface tablet.
Ten large account resellers (LARs) are used to sell Microsoft's Surface, and according to the CEO of Denali Advanced Integration, Majdi "Mike" Daher, this has led to the "isolation and alienation" of partners that have made Microsoft successful. Daher's company is based in Redmond, Washington, and is 114 on the SP500, with $180 million in sales.
Microsoft Corp. announces its two-tiered Microsoft Devices Program that sets up three distributors-Ingram Micro, Inc., SYNNEX Corporation, and Tech Data Corporation-to sell Microsoft Surface devices to a select group of commercial resellers, including CDW, CompuCom Systems, Inc., En Pointe Technologies, Insight Enterprises, Inc., PC Connection, Inc., PCM, Inc., Softchoice, Softmart, SHI International Corp., and Zones, Inc.
A Forrester Research survey shows that nearly one third of 9,766 global tech workers in the enterprise sector say that they prefer their next tablet to run on a Windows software platform. The annual Mobile Workforce Adoption Trends survey by Forrester Research also uncovers the preference of tech workers for the iPhone over the Android smartphone.
2012's holiday shopping season is marked by the increased demand for electronics, including smartphones and tablets. A significant percentage of those devices are expected to carry into enterprises' BYOD in early January 2013.
Aside from the Samsung Galaxy S III, Apple's iPhone 5, and Windows 8 smartphones, many new tablets, such as the iPad Mini, Google's Nexus 10, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, Microsoft's Surface, and Amazon's Kindle Fire, will inevitably be brought into the workplace.