Microsoft Amps Up Apple Attack With Switch To Surface Campaign

A new Microsoft website takes aim at Apple users, urging them to ditch their MacBook Air notebooks for Surface Pro 3 tablets. But channel partners are saying "good luck with that" and say Microsoft needs to worry more about selling the enterprise on Surface Pro's features as opposed to slamming Apple.

Microsoft launched the site called "Making the Switch: MacBook to Surface Pro 3" last week. The site focuses on instructing Apple MacBook Air owners on how to make the jump to Surface Pro 3 tablet. Microsoft writes that moving from "from one platform to another can be nerve-racking and learning new software can seem daunting. We want to make the transition as easy as possible."

The site pits the Surface Pro 3 against the MacBook Air, touting Microsoft's edge over Apple when it comes features that include touchscreen capabilities, removable keyboard, and Bluetooth stylus. It's the latest salvo in the ongoing war between the tech titans to convince loyalists to switch their OS and devices.

[Related: Microsoft Adds New Tablet Partners, Still Just Scratching Channel Surface]

"Nobody is replacing their laptops with tablets," Bob Nitrio, CEO of Ranvest Associates, an Orangevale, Calif.-based small-business Microsoft partner. "Tablets are a digital accessory, not a laptop replacement. I don't care if it's Apple, Lenovo, or HP – even the best Surface Pro isn't going to replace the worst mediocre notebook. Especially in the enterprise."

The new site is the latest from Microsoft in its ongoing Surface-versus-MacBook Air ad campaign that launched earlier in 2014 with TV commercials.

The campaign comes as Apple has enjoyed a growing market for its PCs, according to the most recent IDC Q3 PC shipping data. Apple's market share grew 9 percent compared to the year prior, and is now the fifth largest PC maker, overtaking ASUS. IDC said Apple has enjoyed steady growth, with sales attributed to price cuts and improved demand in mature markets.

Meanwhile Microsoft, which has been beaten badly in the tablet market by rival Apple, has been slowly ramping up its tablet strategy in the enterprise with a handful of partners leading the charge. In September, Microsoft added nine new Surface partners authorized to resell the Surface tablet, bringing the total number of solution providers reselling Surface to 20.

Microsoft has long billed its Surface tablet family, with its snap-on keyboard, as a 2-in-1 notebook and full-sized laptop killer. But so far, Microsoft has failed to gain significant market share since the Surface tablet was introduced in June of 2012.

According to the most recent numbers available, Windows OS devices account for 4.6 percent of the combined worldwide tablet and 2-in-1 PC market compared to Android with 67.7 percent and iOS with 27.5 percent. While IDC predicts the Windows share of the tablet and 2-in-1 market will grow to 11.4 percent by 2018, overall tablet market growth is expected to slow as tablet lifecycles mirror that of PCs.

Nitrio said Microsoft's latest Apple bashing campaign is a sharpening of its claws as it braces for Apple to push into the enterprise with its iPad tablets. Earlier this year Apple inked a deal with IBM to crack open the enterprise with its iPad, announcing joint development of dozens of enterprise-ready iOS apps powered by Big Blue cloud services.

"Degrading Apple is not a way to woo new sales," Nitrio said of Microsoft's switch campaign. "The message needs to be positive and clearly state a competitive advantage." He said Microsoft's Surface Pro pricing was still relatively high when compared to Apple's MacBook Air and other Windows tablet offerings from HP and Lenovo.

In October Apple reported in its Q4 earnings that iPad shipments fell year over year for the third consecutive quarter - dropping 13 percent to 12.3 million units. The same month, Microsoft revealed that sales of its Surface tablets had more than doubled, according to Microsoft's first-quarter earnings report.