Hmm I wonder what that item could be

They are really interested in the Tablet arena.

And like aliensix, I wonder what the 'Microsoft gratuity item' would be. Better be something to clear the minds of Apple iPad users, so that they stop using it. lol

Perfect timing, Microsoft. Launch new product (launch a good one though) while Apple is bleeding. Pay back time for Apple.

can't tell if you're joking or serious.

They'd get more takers if they were giving away free iPads instead of Microsoft stuff.

yeah. a courier. that's totally it.

It does make sense that Microsoft wants to know more about iPad usage. It seems that anytime someone else innovates (if you can call a gigantic, stripped down iPod Touch "innovation"), they rip it off and try to do it better, just without the fanboys to make it work. They have a steady history, from the mouse and Icon-based OS, to the console gaming system. It's inevitable that some competing product comes out of this. My guess is some sort of cloud-based tablet PC.

And I'm surprised a little that TechCrunch makes a big deal over the whole Microsoft vs. Apple thing. I thought by now everyone realized it was a farce. Microsoft has piles of Apple Stock, Apple has piles of Microsoft Stock. I'd imagine that their biggest controversies come down to which one makes the bed when they both climb out of it together in the morning. Besides, you know that saying "my enemy's enemy is my friend"? Microsoft and Apple both have a common enemy now: Google. Money says the two longtime rulers of the playground will one day team up to pummel the new kid (or try to anyhow).

Yes, they are interested in the market that they originally created several years ago…

My guess, they will be letting them play with one of the new Windows Slate devices that are going to be shipping this year.

BTW, Jonathan, the Zune is a perfect example of why the better technology seldom wins in the tech world. It is better sounding, better looking and supports an actual music subscription service while doing wireless sync, unlike the touch. But, I suppose it is better to be a 'fanatic' than to have the better device…

I am joking. I can't stand any of the devices MSFT makes. Their OS is a different thing. There are no designers at MSFT. They should atleast hire some interior decorators before they put together another thing like zune.

oh, okay. settled then.

good call.

so sad.

waw,
ZunePad?

It's going to be "zoo". It will be referred as Microsoft zoo.

if you need to do a study…uh…game over then for msft.

woah, saw this on google news and thought that it was one of the most evil headlines ever…

Huh? I would be more concerned if they *weren't* doing a study. No need to repeat the mistakes made by your competition. Take what is good and improve on what is not. Seems like common sense to me but then again I forgot my fanboy hat at home so… ?

Why bother studying ? Why reinvent the wheel ? Just copy iPad.

This event is probably for the recent statement of Ballmer about 'MS getting hardcore on Tablets'. With its R&D department getting hype up, to this point means we'll be seeing a Microsoft Tablet afterall. Although, I doubt this will look the same with the courier tablet. To think that the people who conceptualized and designed it, are now fired (resigned).

what happened to the $200m Microsoft injected into Apple to revive it? Could these two companies just merge together one day?
Could it be a better strategy to finish off Google?

I have finally figured out what the gratuity item is…

YOU GET A KIN, YOU GET A KIN, YOU GET A KIN!

I really want to like Microsoft (and I've never bought an Apple product in my life). But their bureaucratic, big company approach to doing things is just silly.

Apple doesn't do market research. They are led by people who are passionate about the products they make, and just build the best product they would themselves like to use. The reason most big companies produce absolutely terrible products is, they are run by professional MBA-type managers who don't use the product, don't understand the product and would be just at home managing a company that sells toothpaste.

If you want to know how to build a great tablet, use a tablet. Build the tablet you'd like to use. Be your own market research. It's that simple.

Ah, okay, three guesses, guys. This is some "study." They're making advertising. When you show up, they dangle the prize (probably a very tasty bag full of MS & Adobe software), but you have to sign a release to get it. You play with a couple of the new slates and they film you saying things like "Yeah, my iPad could never do that!" and "When can I get one of these babies?" and "That iPads goin' on eBay tomorrow." and "Boy, ain't Flash the bomb?" Everyone laughs and laughs. It's Vista revisted.

It would be funny if Steve Jobs turned up.

'death grip' has its grip on him. Cant make it this time :(

Seems like a good idea to me. Learn what your competitor did right and wrong straight from the mouth of the competitions users.

Only thing is it might be hard to get an iPad user to admit there is a fault, even if there is clearly one. That's just ADS (Apple Denial Syndrome) though.

Anywho, good play by MS but if they don't have a product out that can compete soon they will have lost a big opportunity to a big competitor. Let's go MS.

yeah, exactly what i was thinking.

Microsoft will roll out their tablet at the end of this year so they are doing some survey
if their Tablet include USB ports and connectivity to PC then it will kill ipad

That is the point of the study, genius.

LOL, yeah. He’s busy coming up with the latest condescending bullshit statement saying iPhone 4 has no problems.

If it means finally bringing competition then I'm all for it. I finally like my iPad but would love it if there was a decent alternative to it and I'm not talking about all of this Vaporware that's promised to come out at the end of the year.

I've heard surprisingly wonderful things about the Zune. I can't comment on it myself, because I haven't used it, which is saying something most will not admit.

i would be an excellent user.
.
.
.
.
.
.
by setting fire to and dropping a piano on it.
:D

now seriously. that is a crappy move from MS. kinda ripoff in the making and they don't even hide it. at least they have ballz :-| if no inspiration.

P.S.: MSFT sold all of its AAPL shares a few centuries ago, it got them about $1B (or something in that magnitude)

@haters: Why?

You din't get it, that will happen eventually, they're just like calling it a "Study"

+10, I totally second you on this. In fact after reading your post I have finally figured out why I hate MS so much, what you said makes so much sense.

Just one word: "Passion"

Microsoft XTablet (like xbox)

Most likely giving away their backlog of Zune paper weights… after all, they aren't worth anything, but it may even be tough to get anyone to take them for free.

So, I can tell you that a Microsoft gratuity is NOT a kin… it's a piece of software of the participant's choice (Windows / Office / Visual Studio / etc), or minor hardware (MS mouse / keyboard), or a 360 game that MS makes. The studies are fun, and the researchers try hard to compensate people for their time.

How is this a ripoff in the making? Companies do competitive analysis all the time, and competitive research can at least help you set a baseline of where you want your product to achieve, if not give you ideas of where you should excel because the competition lags there.

I dunno why Microsoft don't utilise the Xbox 360 "operating system" for a tablet device. It's designed to give you accessibility with limited controls, and it plugs a variety of applications into it – indeed, you can write perfectly good XNA applications for Xbox yourself. It's lightweight and it's fast. It's customisable, mature and well supported.

A good idea by Microsoft. Good luck

Steve Ballmer certainly seems to be into the tablet computer idea at the moment. It's interesting to see though, that eBay's page for the iPad is hosted on Windows Azure http://www.onwindows.com/Articles/eBay-is-early-a.... Cloud computing and tablet, along with mobility, seem to be Microsoft's priorities at the moment.

I bought a Zune HD after Apple locked out early adopters of the iPod Touch from most of their new features, and still charged for the fragmented update. After using it for 7 months, I can say that I am quite happy that I made the switch. Despite the lack of an application marketplace, I use my Zune much more often than I used my iPod. The UI for the Zune in my opinion is light years ahead of the iPod Touch. Besides, I didn't find many of the apps for the iPod useful, as many of the useful ones require wifi. The only place locally that has wifi is my house, and I would rather use my more capable laptop for applications.

HAHA! Microsoft just pulled the event from Facebook.

Microsoft is interested in the tablet/slate, but not as a reading device. The focus of windows is productivity, they are willing to sacrifice looks, speed, everything, as far as it allows productivity. If it produces, it will have the favoritism of the corporate and education market. The iPad is currently a viewer mostly, a consumerism device for you to consume news, apps, videos, etc. Your interaction with it is seldom to create or produce and is not very usable at these functions (i.e. you won't see people walking in class or a business conference with an iPad to take notes). Microsoft Courier project showed that MS focus productivity. I think they will definitely revising that concept as technology allows for the right form factor, battery life, performance and price.

I concur. Zune HD UI and the corresponding Software is light years ahead of iPod touch and more specifically the iTunes memory hogging garbage application.

if thats the case I would buy an iPad today just so that I can get into this study.

My thoughts exactly. The Zune software for PC is a pleasure to look at, compared to iTunes. The software is much more memory efficient as well. The main reason that the Zune HD did not sell like hot cakes was the lack of advertising. I have no idea why Microsoft did not market a device that could had been a fierce competitor to the iPod. I have yet to see a commercial for Zune.

They really want to create something similar I feel, but whenever they try similar things it goes as a flop.

I agree with you, but unfortunately, they have no choice but act as a big corporation because they are one. Apple probably does market research, you just don't hear about it because they don't do it in the form of focus groups, etc. Plus, Steve Jobs IS Apple. Without him, they'd probably go the same route of MBA managers, etc.

Why is he being downvoted? This makes sense. From working in MS in the past these are the exact types of item that the company store stocks, so handy to grab for whoever is conducting the survey.

Totally agree with this. Microsoft's leader Ballmer is a technophobe at heart. Try to make him explain exactly what the zune can do or any technical question about anything, he cant answer you. He has no clear understanding of what hes selling or care to. Hes simply a glorified MS evangelist.

Mr. Jobs can go on stage and explain in intricate detail all the features of his products. Like to see Ballmer do that.

As long as Ballmer is in charge MS will just be known as a software company. I dont think MS should be respected as a game console company. They make machines that break very easily. Many people are on their 4th or 5th xbox. They cant even get this right.

They need a real visionary to lead those 90000 people at ms. Doesn't matter how many smart people you have. As Apple proves one person can change the world.

Obviously cant use any ms employees for this study. Could be a firing offense for ms person to own one. Its like MS came here in a 90000 person space ship to study us humans. They should have done a insider study giving some employees to use the ipad instead of making this so public. Another sign to the world that MS who started the tablet business does not yet have a clue.

Yeah, the Zune is SO good. That must be why nobody is buying it. It's clearly just TOO good for mere mortals.

The jig is up you guy's know something SPILL IT?. The public has a right to know! what MS is up to.

The Zune is a quality device. However, it lacked the advertising to entice people to buy it. Think of most Microsoft devices that have failed recently. Zune failed because not enough people were aware of the product's features. Kin failed because of Verizon's deterring data plan. If you check on Kin's facebook page, several hundred thousand people "like" the page. If Verizon did not require the $30 a month, think of how many people would have at least looked into the Kin.

"Yes, they are interested in the market that they originally created several years ago…"

They tried to create a market for an approach that involved stylus input and minimal changes to their software and user interface. They failed miserably. And you call that trying to get back to a market they originally created? There was no market! They created nothing worth paying attention to!

Amazing how some stories just never die…

First of all, it was $150 million and was largely for exchange of intellectual properties. It was a totally insignificant amount even during those poor days for Apple. It's main value was in public relations, not financial.

Secondly, Microsoft sold those non-voting shares a long time ago and made a nice profit on it (+/- $1 billion).

Thirdly, Apple is now the second largest tech company in the US. It's market value is worth $220 – $230 billion dollars. Yeah, that $150 million Microsoft ex-investment is really significant…

Yes, marketing is the king that overrules all shortcomings – you're delusional.

No, the Zune is not successful because it's just a late-to-market, me-too device with nothing special to offer and stagnant in it's feature development.

The Kin failed because it was a lousy concept using outdated hardware that was trying to address a market that moved on to something different two years ago. (And BTW, MS spent plenty on marketing it.)

The Zune was late to the market, but so was Google in the smart phone market. Getting the word out to consumers about a product is a way to make up for a product being late to the market. Look at the iDon't ads that we run by Google. Their smart phone market share is increasing steadily now. The original Zunes did not have much to offer, I'll give you that, but the Zune HD has plenty to offer. Just because the Zune HD does not have a dedicated application marketplace does not mean that it is a bad device. Microsoft has even said themselves that the Zune HD was meant to be a portable media player. The few applications that are offered are more or less bonuses. Also, I did not say the Kin failed due to marketing faults. The Kin did have a lot of shortcomings (look at reviews). However, it was a feature phone and was not meant to compete with smart phones. Clunky feature phones (LG ENVY?) still sell decently for teens whose parents do not want to pay large bills that come with smart phones. Most feature phones that sell well have also been available on pre paid plans. I used to have a Verizon pre paid plan. For as little as $15 a month, you can get unlimited texting, and minutes left over to pay for calling. The teens that these phones are sold to tend to text and use social networks far more than call. The Kin was marketed to this very group of teens. From the multiple ads I have seen for Kin, calling was hardly mentioned as a key feature. The reason Kin failed in the end was that it was a feature phone that was advertised as a feature phone, but with the prices of full fledged smart phones.

I've done these types of studies at the Microsoft campus before. You are offered a gratuity from a list made up mostly of microsoft software and xbox games although there were a few hardware options as well, xbox controllers and other low priced items. My roommate and I always just take the highest priced piece of software available and sell it on Craigslist. Last time I went it was a 3 hour session so I got two gratuities and sold each for about 250 bucks.

>> "if you can call a gigantic, stripped down iPod Touch "innovation"

True… but the iPod Touch was Apple's invention too. And pretty successful too.

If the iPad came from the DNA of the iPhone/iPod Touch… where will these new Android and Microsoft tablets come from?

If the Apple progression was iPod-iPhone-iPad… where will Microsoft go? Zune-Kin-????

"Better" is such a loaded word.

Maybe people like buying songs from iTunes (billions of songs purchased)

Maybe people like buying apps (billions of apps purchased)

The iPod Touch might be "better" to a lot of people.

Mojave Tablet

A free Vista copy!

Good strategy from Microsoft :)

Zunepad? Can't waiit to see how they fail this time

Quote: “This gonna be a hard study, since most of the people who bought ipad are apple fanboys and apple regular customers their point of view is, um, damaged.”

From a user experience (UX) point of view, it's an interesting research. I believe Microsoft's (MS) UX researchers are interested in observing how people use the iPad, and I think the focus on students as the target group of choice merely points to Microsoft's interest in, perhaps, developing something for the Education arena. Could be an app, could be a device, who knows?

Bottom line: what they're observing is probably gonna be usage behaviour, which isn't significantly affected by one's perception/opinion of a brand. Take for example 2 identical mice and paste a MS logo on one and an Apple logo on the other. Usage behaviour isn't gonna differ significantly on how we interact with the mice.

Actually, by market capitalization, Apple isn't the "second largest tech company," it's the second largest company of any kind in the U.S., behind only Exxon.

Yeah, because they have failed at everything other than regurgitating windows and office every few years (and the console with the highest failure rate of any game console ever…it is successful). They need in the tablet biz because they have missed every other target since XP, excluding the 360.

i think they where after exactly that (UX).

Apple may not excel in many fields but what user experience is concerned they do. Microsoft just lately realized that things are getting much more useful /+ faster to operate if they focus a little bit on where to put the damn buttons and what subsystems and additional functionality to develop in order to make it more fluid.

the results where office 2007 and a part of win7(win7 still lacks UI consistency and intuitiveness). especially office. they redesigned the UI and now there is a chance that writing a report is actually more pleasant then dental extraction.

maybe zunepad..

I am a very unhappy iPad user. First the Mail application if of no use as there is no junk mail filter. Second as there is no Flash compatibility, many sites I used to go cannot be properly accessed now. So I decided to sell it and go bac to my MacBook Air.

UX ripoff then.

wew, they should create something different, not just imitating..

They’re researching iPad users… dumbshit

Great thoughts by Microsoft it will help in future for their users