Windows touch devices: If you don't want to sell

The last week of October 2012, I lived with great enthusiasm and curiosity following the cascade of presentations that were taking place. Windows 8, Surface RT, Windows Phone 8, etc.

In all of them the attendees, showed us interesting and innovative devices that represented a revolution in computers, tablets and in the telephones. A true leap forward that reopened a panorama of manufacturers bidding to offer innovation.

But things began to go awry when the dates for the start of the Christmas campaign and the arrival of those amazing tablets, ultrabooks and hybrids of singular shapes approached, it was delaying and delaying.

The frustration of a wait that does not end

When I passed by a large storefront I looked askance at the space reserved for Apple devices, with its pristine white full of turned on devices, accessible to the curious, with rich and very attractive applications; while I had to search the most hidden corner of the long counters to find, among dozens of Android tablets or Windows 7 laptops, a Windows 8 touch device.

But it is also that most of the time it was turned off, disabled touch control, locked by password or, if I could access the Start, with the default applications. With nothing to attract the eye or the curiosity of the buyer.

I kept waiting for the tables to turn into 2013, but the need for renovation led me to buy an “obsolete” i7 for less than half the price of the touch ultrabook I had dreamed of. Literally, I ran out of patience.

Absurdities of large surfaces when showing Windows 8 touch computers as it was when I found myself, for the first time, in front of a Surface RT… glued to the counter by the keyboard; or mix on the same “Windows 8 touch” desk Windows 7 and Windows 8 computers but without the ability to be used with your fingers.

All this that first causes confusion and then rejects the buyer who was curious about a device that also has a price high.

And I still find it difficult to venture to ask any of the sellers: they simply do not have the minimum knowledge about Windows 8, or the devices they sell, necessary to solve the doubts of potential buyers .

I've heard some real nonsense in response to customer questions. Wrong and, in any case, demotivating responses to the acquisition. If not directly negative.

Half a year since the release of, for example, the excellent Asus tablet, and still no vendor I've asked has been able to tell me if it's available in another screen size. Six months.

The rush is not good counselors

But the fault lies not only with large stores, distributors or manufacturers; also Microsoft's strange business policy is wreaking havoc.

Did a Surface RT make sense?

It is true that when the strategic decisions that led to the birth of Windows 8 RT and the Surface that was going to support it were made, there was a pressing need to go to market as soon as possible given the unstoppable growth of the iPads. But now, as time goes by, it's becoming increasingly clear that the The Surface RT should have come after the Surface PRO, as the question millions are asking of possible users is:

Why buy a "light" Windows 8 when in a few months I can buy a complete Windows 8? If precisely many of the buyers want to abandon the super MP4 that is the iPad and expect a machine similar to a laptop but with the advantages of a tablet and ability to use software and devicesof a Wintel.

And the following doubts that immediately arise: Why can't I buy it now? Why not in a month either? When can I buy it?

More problems with Windows Phone

Windows Phone mobiles have revealed great growth potential due to, among other things, the clear support of Nokia, for the quality of the devices, for the benefits and benefits of the operating system and for the search for that glamor that worked so well for HTC at the time for Apple, with the iPhone, and that right now gives me the feeling that Samsung is leading the way (on Android).

But the erroneous versioning policy has led users to frustration with buyers abandoning 7.x before a year on the market. Being replaced with version 8 - without the possibility of updating -, and that is tried to be mitigated with the “napa” of the 7.8 update; which is already being left behind by developers who obviously focus on the latest version of the operating system. (Including nokia apps).

Also, following the path of the Surface, it has taken months, since its presentation in November, to be able to acquire any of these appreciated devices, and some even now we can only acquire outside the country.

A separate case is Nokia making their products compete with each other before the old ones even reach the market. As has happened with the Lumia 620 that, as soon as it is available on the market, they go and announce the 720 that leaves it behind in price and capacities.

And the buyer, like who writes these lines, with fresh money in hand to buy the 620, puts it in his pocket waiting for the new “more better phone”. Hey, that almost €300 is not enough to go around changing mobile phones every 6 months.

Let's add, again, the ignorance of the sellers, or directly their reluctance to the products; which on mobile is even more frustrating than on Windows 8 touch devices.

This is how I have been able to find products labeled as Windows Mobile, in the most remote area of ​​the shelf and about which no seller can give any information or that directly discourages you from purchasing , while he constantly tells you about the wonders of the iPhone or the latest version of Android on a Samsung.

Some conclusions

Here's something that stinks...

Windows 8, in its PRO version, is being very well received by “normal” users. The implementation is massive across all laptops and PCs, and resistance to change from more general users is surprisingly much less the more people use it.

In addition, it has been positive and appropriate that it can be installed on any Windows 7 computer (even Vista or XP computers) and thus manufacturers and large stores continue to sell the stock of Windows 7 machines but with the Brand new operating system, providing great added value.

All accompanied by an intelligent pricing policy, both for final buyers and for the entire manufacturing and distribution chain, which is achieving sales figures that have eliminated the doubts Windows 8 horizon initials.

However, the situation of Windows touch devices can be summed up in a very accurate phrase from the Spanish proverb:

The truth is that the events are smelling fatally familiar to me Something similar happened with tablet PCs, excellent products that were sent to hell of undeserved failures due to a similar policy from manufacturers: late, expensive and very difficult to access to the general public, just the opposite of PCs or iOS or Android tablets.

It is true that time has stopped running against. The iPads are being criticized for living the same and not presenting any revolutionary update that will once again give this touch of quality and exclusivity to a company that has been leading the way for a long time, and that seems very touched by the disappearance of the great Steve Jobs.

And Android, which needs to shake off the widespread feeling that most tablets offer performance below buyers' expectations, with notable exceptions.

But also Microsoft and manufacturers have to be aware that this can change in a matter of months - for example in the next version of the Google's operating system -, and leaving Windows 8 tablets out of the game as happened at the time with TabletPCs.

And that, in addition, in mobile phones you have to recover the trust of a client who fears a new version 9 that could leave their brand new 8.x in the same limbo the 7.x. are currently in

It may be that the reality that we are a third or fourth level market within the multinationals in the sector is the cause of Spain suffering this enormous delay in the arrival of these products, of which We talk to you so much on XatakaWindows.

But, until it's our turn, I'll continue with the feeling that we saw a beautiful landscape through the window, but I have doubts as to whether the door will ever open to be able to run through those fields.

If enough time is allowed, everything ends up drying out.