Premium products

We've had several articles this last week that mentioned the upcoming Microsoft Surface tablet.  There is very little chance I'll personally decide Windows RT is the future and buy Ballmer's new baby.  That said, I sincerely hope that the Surface is a success.

There are some Apple fans who don't want to see the Surface succeed.  This is understandable, especially for original Mac users who remember the destruction Microsoft brought on Apple in the 90s.  Simply put, this is a different product - and both companies have themselves changed. A decade back Jobs said Apple users need to lose the idea that for Apple to succeed Microsoft has to fail - more true now than ever.

No, my worry isn't Microsoft coming back and wrecking Apple 2.0.  I honestly believe that with both companies making high end products - ultimately Apple always comes out on top. Making a premium product is apples forte.  While the Surface really looks like a nice device, I don't see Microsoft being able to provide the all around polish Apple can.  Apple has the whole high end thing down to a science including everything from the packaging, to the store, to of course the device itself.

The threat to Apple, but I'd say even more importantly to all users everywhere, is loss leader products like what Amazon and more so Barnes and Noble are making.  I don't really throw the Nexus 7 in this category, while it certainly lacks in some respects, it's a capable tablet (though the rumored 99 dollar Christmas version will certainly be crap).

I worry about these companies catering to the inherent cheapness present in most.  With a race to the bottom in pricing you inevitably end up with a bunch of trash. Netbooks are a great example of 'cheapest possible' products.  Partial functionality, shitty design, the hallmarks of the low end.

Unlike other markets, in tech a crap product has the capacity to destroy something superior. In the car market for example BMW will continue to exist for those who can, and chose to pay for quality.  BMW's existence in the market will continue so long as they build a good product - unimpeded, regardless if Ford comes out with a new quite capable Fiesta.  BMW is only reliant on BMW.  In tech you're reliant on developers.  Developers, as they should, follow market share.  Any tablet/phone/etc is really only as good as the software for it.  Therefore it's troubling that selling a zillion really crappy tablets could in the end ruin devices that are infinitely better - even for people willing to pay a premium price.

Arguably we've already seen something like this happen with PCs.  The Macintosh was without question the premier device in 1984 - and I'd argue continued to be the undisputed best until at least Windows 95.  The cheapness of people won out, we saw worse quality machines win market share and win the day.  In Apple's case Jobs came back, this earlier failure helped push the company to be increasingly more innovative - and has so far been the best thing that's happened to Apple.

Looking at another market though where cheap devices have pushed out premium products without such a happy outcome - the gaming.  Anyone over 21 that's in to video games probably remembers quite fondly the premium gaming PC market.  Console gaming was both cheaper and by almost any standard inferior.  That said, how's alienware doing these days? (I mean even aside from the fact Dell is a total failure of a company anymore).

In the end I just like really nice things.  I love the quality that's put in to my iPad.  I can say definitively it's one of the single nicest, most thought through things I've ever owned.  The product screams class and works flawlessly.  The iPad's retina screen has virtually ruined most other displays for me.  The Surface is Microsoft taking a stab at making a premium product.  The 500 dollars Microsoft is charging shows their intention to be top tier.  I hope that this product, and it's 1.5bn advertising budget, will help to push consumers back towards buying nice things.  Phones and Tablets are devices people use repeatedly, all day, every day - it's worth spending a few extra dollars to get something good.