Re: Microsoft claims false report
Okay, since it's Sunday night here on the West Coast, I haven't had luck reaching anyone outside Microsoft's call centers. But I spoke to a call center supervisor (she said she couldn't give her full name) based in New York. I can report the following:
-- If a customer service rep said outright that the deal was false, the customer service rep spoke outside of Microsoft policy. The supervisor told me that company policy is to say, "We cannot confirm that" in response to situations such as this one. The reps should not have denied the price, and they should not have suggested (as some readers have reported to me) that InformationWeek (or any other publication reporting this deal) was wrong.
-- Microsoft customer service is basically in the dark on this deal until it is live. The supervisor told me that they don't have access to pricing information until the deal is active. So basically, the people I talked to in Microsoft PR knew about this deal, but at least some of the people in Microsoft customer service (perhaps all?) knew nothing.
-- My assumption is that some people called Microsoft customer support around midight EST, asking why they couldn't find the Venue 8 Pro deal. Because the deal doesn't go live until 7 AM Pacific (not a detail the supervisor could confirm even at this point, btw), the reps wouldn't have seen the pricing info.The reps should have said, "I cannot confirm that," but based on what I've heard from some readers, it appears at least some of them said something more like, "No, all the articles about that deal are wrong."
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12/9/2013 | 1:40:19 AM
1) The iPad has WAY more market share than Rolls Royce. In fact, the iPad is the most used single line of tablets. That alone makes it a sensible point of comparison when discussing new products in the same category.
2) The iPad Mini is a particularly apt comparison, given the Venue Pro costs the same (outside of Monday's promotion) as the cheapest iPad Mini.
3) Maybe it wasn't clear, but "Different strokes for different folks" was sort of the point of the iPad comparison--e.g. "[T]he Venue 8 Pro's major sales draw isn't touch apps; it's support for desktop software, particularly Microsoft Office."