14 DAY TRIAL // Apple and Microsoft are competing against each other in a wide range of product categories, and when it comes to tablets, the Redmond-based software giant has improved a lot lately.
But according to the J.D. Power Tablet Satisfaction Study for 2016 Volume 1 concerning the US market, Apple is still topping the charts despite this important growth recorded by Microsoft.
Apple has a score of 830 points in the charts while Microsoft is the runner-up with – believe it or not – just 829 points. This means Microsoft is just one point behind, despite the fact that a few years ago, nobody gave the company any chance to become relevant in the tablet industry.
The other two companies that made the upper side of the rankings are Samsung with 822 points and Amazon with 816 points. The study evaluates five different categories, as it follows: performance (28%), ease of operation (22%), features (22%), styling and design (17%), and cost (11%).
Microsoft’s Surface ascension
Back in 2012, Microsoft launched the Surface RT, the company’s first tablet ever which hasn’t been so well-received as Steve Ballmer, CEO at the time, expected. Apple CEO Tim Cook himself criticized the Surface tablet, mostly because it came with a keyboard and tried to tackle both the world of tablets and laptops at the same time.
But as time passed by and Microsoft continued investments in the Surface tablet sales of the lineup increased significantly, making the company a well-established hardware player. At this point, Microsoft is already at the fourth-generation Surface tablets and has also launched one laptop that’s part of the Surface lineup, with plans to release upgraded models in early 2017.
Without a doubt, Microsoft’s growth in tablet customer satisfaction surveys is based on the evolution of the Surface lineup, which gives hopes that future products could continue this ascending trend. All eyes are now on the Surface Phone, which is expected to benefit from the already established Surface brand appeal.