Microsoft was right about the future of PCs - it just took the MacBook Neo to prove it
SMRTR summary
Apple's $599 MacBook Neo has disrupted the consumer laptop market where Microsoft failed more than a decade ago with a strikingly similar device. The Surface RT, launched in 2012 at the same price point, was Microsoft's attempt at a premium yet affordable ultraportable that ultimately cost the company $900 million in losses.
Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft's former head of Windows and architect behind the Surface RT, recently shared "melancholy" reflections on his product's failure compared to Apple's success with what he considers its spiritual successor.
The Surface RT boasted impressive hardware for its time, solid battery life, and elegant design, but launched into a barren ecosystem with limited app support and an untested Windows RT operating system. Users couldn't even run Chrome or Firefox, being locked into Internet Explorer.
Apple's Neo, arriving nearly 15 years later, benefits from what Sinofsky might call being the "nepo baby" of laptops. It enters a mature ecosystem with decades of established branding and app development already completed.
The lesson: innovation alone doesn't guarantee success. Sometimes being first means being too early.
SMRTR provides this summary for quick context. The original article belongs to ZDNet.
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