[Microsoft Surface] Droff:
I agree with people who said that Surface RT, PRO and others are all different enough to attract different crowd.

One thing to consider is that iPad's 60% tablet market share is divided between people who love Apple products in general (desktop mac OS - 9%) and those who use Microsoft Windows (73%). With windows 8 interface adaptation among those 73%, it is very possible that some of iPad users will switch in time to purely mobile ARM version of the OS that they normally use (if they want more mobility) or the bigger brother (PRO), replacing their laptops and ditching other tablets.

Surface Pro is designed to be mostly like another windows laptop/tablet. Metro interface and backward compatibility will blur the line between classic windows 7 style of use and new "mobile" windows 8 style. I see this device as a transitional ice breaker. Battery life is the only thing that concerns me here. I anticipate that there will be some hybrid devices in the future that will run Metro on ARM and the rest on more powerful CPU with good integration and smooth switching between each other.

Surface RT will be a lot more "alien" device on the market at first, simply due to the lack of extensive APP libraries built specifically for windows ARM architecture. I still see that it has a lot of potential. RT is very likely to be adopted by professional crowd fast enough due to productivity applications and even some OS features. Office sure will have a big impact. I can also totally see how dividing screen between two applications can be very useful to professional people who would read (or just have a reference info) on one side and write on the other. This feature is not currently available (or convenient enough) in either IOS or Android. Besides the price, battery life (mobility factor) is the biggest advantage of ARM brother.

Success of RT version also will depend on the real life browser performance. In my opinion neither Android or IOS provide true desktop browsing experience. I would love to see how Windows app on ARM will tackle this. If it will be faster (very doubt it) it will be a total win. If it will be on the same level as competition, there will be nothing to complain about, but if it will be slower, then it will be a failure.

Another very important aspect is USB device support. I have high hopes for microsoft product here. Full size USB is nothing new (not new to Android), but device compatibility on Android still leaves a lot to be desired. I don't think that we will see good compatibility with printers and scanners right away, but potential here is more on Windows side even for ARM cpu. Printing from Android and Apple tablets is possible, but far from perfect.

To me it is very sad to see that Surface RT lacks the digital ink (pen input) that is present on PRO version, otherwise RT version would've attracted even more professional users who would want hand written note taking.

Entertainment wise, RT probably will be in some ways better and in some ways worse than competition on early stages. USB and microSD expansion beats iPad's way of video consumption (Android did that long time ago), audio material is not much different. Any tablet can tackle video and music material very well. There is not much that can be gained or lost here. This leaves only games. Here is where people will feel the most impact. On the other hand Surface Pro will fill that gap and overflow it by a huge margin, but in a bit different way.