Their recycler (http://cexchange.com/) will resell the iPads to cover the $200 loss, which will actually create more competition for surface. This isn't too brilliant of a strategy.

Presumably this trade-in will be done by people who are thinking, "I'm not crazy about my iPad. I want to try something new." If Microsoft convinces these customers to try Surface versus something else (aka Android), it's a win.

The iPads will be resold to someone thinking, "I want to try a tablet, but I've never tried an iPad." Which is a different market segment.

Also, a $200 gift card != $200 cash. Some estimates say 20% of gift cards in the US are not redeemed. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_card#Redemption_rate

And even for the cards that are redeemed, Microsoft is making a profit off every $ that is spent. Plus interest on any gift card balance.

It's not far-fetched to imagine Microsoft making 30%+ profit off this, while increasing the (dismal) market share of Surface devices.

Or a person thinking "I want a cheap iPad for the kids", but either way, those people are less likely to buy a Surface, so your argument makes sense.

Yeah, really makes you wonder why car dealerships offer trade-ins...

The only tablet I'd trade my iPad in for is a newer iPad.

I certainly wouldn't trade it in for a Surface, I might trade it in for an Android.

All the stuff I get is either free-as-in-libre or something my wife is going to enjoy using. Surface is neither, with the bonus that whoever was in charge was clueless enough to load it with 40G of software.

I feel sometimes as if I'm alone for liking my Surface RT.

8.1 for outlook was the real clincher. Before I hadn't really liked any tablets I'd used.

But now this thing really does go everywhere. Office is rather integral to my workflow, every alternative I've tried hasn't cut the mustard. Now when I'm away, I've got my laptop and my 'office slab'. The touch cover actually works rather well, I won't mind typing out a good long email on it without wanting to slam the device into the wall (which my Nexus 7 makes me want to do).

It is also remarkably adept at just working with anything I slam on the USB. I can use it to backup my SD cards to a USB HDD when travelling (having lost an SD card last year half way through my holiday I'm paranoid!) or I just plug in my USB headset for Skype. It can browse the web including pages that have bad touch events (ie menu comes down on mouse over, not mouse down).

And it does flash.

I've only got an iPad 2 to compare against for speed, and yes whilst I'd like it faster, it isn't problematic.

I can't really see a lot of the hate on the Surface, as a product it isn't really there yet. But neither is my iPad or my Nexus.

That's awesome, I'm glad you like it. Now that you mention it, I recall thinking of the keyboard cover as a great idea.

I guess many things you list are orthogonal to what I would want it for (and I am quite pleased that there's no more Flash), so I don't see it as an improvement to the iPad, nor is it any more open.

Apple is giving even less money for trade-ins.

I think you may have missed the point.

Some time ago I saw something that Microsoft gets $15 for every android device sold while google gets 0 (because of patent extortion). It would be pretty funny to see something now that says "Microsoft makes more in Q4 off iPad re-sales than from surface sales" note: I'm saying profit, not revenue, because of how much they have to subsidize surfaces thus making negative profit while at the same time re-selling the ipads they got for $200 at market rates, thus making a profit.

The rather amusing side effect of this marketing strategy is that Microsoft is buying a bunch of iPads. What are they going to do with them?

Sell them! It's working for Apple.

I have a feeling Apple's advertising team could have some fun with the fact that Microsoft is selling iPads.

Surely Microsoft disassembling them for parts would be better for Apple?

Going away presents for Ballmer.

I'm sure they have a deal with a company who either resells them or strips them for parts, and pays slightly more than $200 for a working iPad.

I'd guess sell them. I sold my iPad 2 for $300 on ebay last month.

Not worth it, you can sell an iPad 2 for $270 on eBay.

proof: http://www.thepricegeek.com/results/ipad+2

Sure, but both eBay and PayPal take a cut of the transaction, and the size of that cut has been growing. What is it now, 15% each?

No, ~15% in total. So, you're getting a better deal from eBay.

Selling requires more effort and is risker due to buyer protection. It seems that Microsoft found the sweet spot.

Yeah, I'd much rather take $200 from a store than ~$233 with the bother and risk of an eBay sale. It's not even close for me.

However even better is just keeping my iPad since it's working fine, thanks.

I bought an iPad 2 last summer for $200. This honestly isn't a bad way to get rid of it, except my biggest issue with getting a Surface at this point is my unfamiliarity with the Windows platform -- I'm not saying I wouldn't be able to use the thing, it's just that there would be a subconscious effort being made that I don't really feel like dealing with (at least.)

Still, I think having $200 to spend on Microsoft stuff isn't a bad trade. Office is expensive.

Weird. I just sold an iPad2 on ebay last month for $300. Looking at eBay, that is the current going price for a used iPad 2 in good condition (as mine was). So when I saw MSFT offering $200, I thought this was a bad deal for their consumers.

In comparison: Gazelle offers $175 for an iPad 2 WIFI-only 32GB (Microsoft doesn't accept iPad 1). You can say that on average they will make more on those iPads than they are giving away in value for MS products.

In other words, Microsoft is trying to come off cheap.

Or you can sell it on craigslist for $400

I've tried both versions of the Surface and each time my opinion is "I wish they'd split their OS, like Apple." - people usually don't need an entire desktop OS (with touch screen functions or not) on a tablet, they want a tablet OS - like iOS.

The only ipad I have to trade is a first generation one, which they don't accept. Oh well...

Does not include the iPad 1.

It really seems like Apple left early iPad adopters out in the cold. Last major OS update wouldn't work on iPad 1, nor does it count for any trade-in ANYWHERE it seems like.

iPad 1 had a very decent lifespan compared to the tablets released by competing manufacturers shortly afterwards.

>> iPad 1 had a very decent lifespan

I beg to differ. I assumed that I would get 3 years out of my iPad 1 but barely got two.

I made the wrong bet by placing blind trust into Apple when I paid extra for the 64GB version to ensure that it was 'future proof'. Sadly, by the time I upgraded to iOS 5.x, the iPad became slow as molasses and the browser would crash every 5-10 minutes.

Don't even get me started on how iOS 6.x has turned my iPhone 4 into a pig.

I'd be a hell of a lot happier if Apple would let you easily downgrade the OS'es of their mobile devices.

Really? I still have my iPad 1. Browsing HN on it as we speak. It's running iOS 5. The only downside is that the percentage of apps I can install is diminishing rapidly. Still, I bought it primarily to consume media: audio, video and books. And I reckon I have at least one more year before I would feel compelled to upgrade.

If yours doesn't crash all the time because WebKit runs out of memory, then you're luckier than me (and a few people on the Apple forums). For me, the usable lifespan ended with the introduction of iOS 5 (my friend's iPad on 4.3 is much more stable).

You have quoted me out of context.

I said:

"iPad 1 had a very decent lifespan compared to the tablets released by competing manufacturers shortly afterwards"

And it is completely true. Look at the first Android tablets released after the iPad 1 came out (Motorola Xoom and friends). Did anyone use these for more than a few months?

Yet I know five or six people who still regularly use their iPad 1.

If you had instead placed your "blind trust" in an Android tablet at the time, you would have been treated far worse.

Why would more storage make a difference?

It doesn't, although storage needs for me tend to grow over time. The problem for me was that paying the premium for the storage was mooted by the iPad becoming essentially a useless brick because of the OS upgrades.

I use iPhone 4 with iOS 6 and apart from the app store (which I guess is slow everywhere, looking like being implemented in HTML 5 and stressing servers) nothing is slower than before iOS 6.

My camera takes about 6 seconds to launch compared to being near instant before iOS 6.

I've just tried, I get about 6 seconds only if I used a lot other things, but still near instant if I've used the camera recently.

We have two iPad 1s at home and for general web browsing, looking at pictures and watching videos they are perfectly fine.

My wife has an iPad 1. It's still working great and she has no desire to upgrade.

Certainly a lot longer than RT's lifespan, which is similar to that of a matchstick being lit.

When the iPad 1 was brand new, there were no other tablets so I didn't choose an iPad over an Android tablet, but over a light laptop or other gadgets. And in retrospect, I should definitely have waited for the iPad 2 which seems to rival the iPhone 3GS in terms of longevity.

The iPad 2/mini is better than the iPad 3 in performance due to the excellent GPU for the comparatively low resolution. The iPad 4 is similar in its GPU power / screen resolution ratio.

I've had one in my shower since it came out. Still works perfectly.

  > I've had one in my shower since it came out.

That is a long shower!

You... you use an iPad... in the shower?

(or am I missing some joke?)

Hanging from the top of my shower door. No joke. :-)

I'm not sure how sensitive modern electronics are to high humidity, but with a decent exhaust system this would work quite well.

Pass

And then they will use the iPads themselves because their products suck?