MS built out an entire hardware line that mimics Apple's hardware line and then put up counter points to Mac alongside each competing Apple product. It is obvious and Microsoft's collective ego shows. It is a very late response to Apple's old campaign, they have moved on completely.
Mimics? At last check, none of Apple's laptops had full touch screens or supported a stylus. If you're talking about design or style, you might be able to argue that.
Before the Surface, PC OEMs were building MacBook clones as their high-end laptops. The Surface's claim to fame is in fact that they showed that high-end PC portables didn't need to be MacBook clones at all.
You are talking about features. Not the products themselves. Tablet. Laptop. Convertible (in-between). There usage and perception is the same. There is no defining feature that make them different. They go after the same market, that is the key.
None of these products (Surface) really matter because Microsoft is just buying time and expertise with the Surface line. HoloLens will change everything, as soon as it drops. Microsoft will be working furiously to spin down the Surface line and ramp up its new platform. It is the gold key. We don't always have our phone in our hands but imagine you have these lenses on all the time to help you experience a deeper world.
The usage and perception of a laptop with a detachable keyboard, full touch screen, and a stylus is the same? I don't think so. Perhaps they're very similar, but I think it's a stretch to equate them.
one of these products (Surface) really matter because Microsoft is just buying time and expertise with the Surface line. HoloLens will change everything, as soon as it drops. Microsoft will be working furiously to spin down the Surface line and ramp up its new platform. It is the gold key. We don't always have our phone in our hands but imagine you have these lenses on all the time to help you experience a deeper world.
I think you're slightly overly optimistic about the future here.
I've used HoloLens and I don't think it will change anything for a very, very long time- and that is only if Microsoft stays committed to it enough for it to develop into a useful consumer device.
