Apple and Microsoft continue to slug it out to win over the consumer market with their devices. Microsoft changed the landscape of mobile computing with the Surface Pro though Apple seems to have jumped the gun on them with their own version, the iPad Pro.
The two detachable devices are slowly making their mark in the tech industry with both standing out as preferred devices in particular niches. Apple may be outselling Microsoft in the consumer market scene but the Surface Pro is still the preferred device in the enterprise segment.
Such was revealed by Canalys, an analytical firm, who revealed that the UK enterprise market still places preference on the Surface Pro. Using figures from the first quarter, the firm reveals that businesses in the UK saw 275,000 units of the Surface Pro sold which is three times the first quarter sales of 83,000 it enjoyed three years ago.
On the other end, Canalys adds that the iPad Pro saw less than half of its units sold in the segment with only 107,000 units bought by UK firms.
To shed some light on why this has happened, senior analyst Tim Coughlin weighed in on the development.
"One of the problems facing Apple is price, the other is familiarity and applications."
With that statement, Coughlin is pointing out the fact that Windows continues to be the preferred medium in the business sector, something workers are familiar with and likely tied up to years of business use. There is not much explanation needed since Microsoft has established this for years now while Apple has been known to focus more on graphics and media.
The story is of course different in the consumer market niche with the iPad Pro outselling the Surface Pro. This is despite the fact that tablet purchases have declined over in the UK by about 8% year-over-year between January to March.