do you think the covers are rip-offs?

[badham21]

that's all my iSheep friend seems to go on about, that and the infamous app store aswell, considering that's all the iPad has on this.

But yeah, he says all these things about the fact you can buy an iPad keyboard for £15 that does the same, but in my opinion, £109 for my type cover wasn't That much of a rip off, but never-the-less it was price, but bearing in mind its features:

Shortcut buttons on top
multi touch track pad that responds to windows gestures
magnetic clip in - very strong
no need to faff around setting up Bluetooth devices - just plug in and type
provides a good aesthetic feature for the device
doubles as a decent screen cover

so yeah, £109 might be abit excessive but I reckon an £80 price tag would be very reasonable.

 

[J515OP]

No, those cheap iPad keyboards do not do the same thing. They just need something to nit pick. Have you looked at the price of Apple accessories? The "best" options are as expensive or move expensive than the MS options. Don't let the sheeple make you feel bad.

$39 - "Smart" cover (it isn't smart it is just a magnetic cover and does nothing but cover and fold)
$19 - Lightning to USB Cable
$29 - Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader
$69 - Apple Wireless Keyboard (alt average Price of ~$50-60 https://www.google.com/search?q=ipa...828e2c98ec815a&bpcl=39650382&biw=1200&bih=963)
$29 - Lightning to 30-pin Adapter (if you want to use all your accessories with the new iPad)

This is just to get the iPad to match the functionality of the Surface and its keyboard/cover and use it with accessories you might already have. Now who is getting ripped off?


(BTW you can also get any cheap usb keyboard for less than £15 if you wanted to use that with your Surface instead and can find many "old" usb keyboards for free)

 

[badham21]

you forgot the leather smart case, around $100 for a magnetic case that does nothing apart from an average stand

 

[archapacman]

Apple Wireless Keyboard + "Smart" Cover = $110

Now, however, I do agree that BOTH are rip offs (Apple and Microsoft).

I would rather throw my money at Microsoft though, because they actually invented something useful compared to Apple.

 

[ryanmackk]

I think they are overpriced. I mean, sure it's a novel idea and MS only prices their products at what people will pay, but $120 for a felt keyboard.......man

 

[mitchellvii]

Yeah its a ripoff but so is a Porsche.

 

[Tom T]

Like most people I would love to see these sourced, but to be honest these covers, both touch and type, are both unique, cool and exceptionally useful. I've seen some nice keyboard accessories for the iPads but the good ones aren't cheap and are nowhere near as innovative as the Surface covers. One other thing, kudos to Microsoft for making the covers compatible with both the Surface Pro and RT.

 

[pallentx]

hahah, an Apple user complaining about an accessory being overpriced? That's hilarious. Sure, its a little overpriced, but its an exclusive accessory only MS makes, so you have to kind of expect it. It also works really well and is unlike anything else out there. Ask you Apple friends to show you how they use a mouse on their iPad...

 

[Gigayojimboz]

Nice one pallentx!

 

[pallentx]

They will say you don't need a mouse, but I've come across a lot of websites that have menus that depend on hover gestures that don't work right on the iPad, or the Surface. I can flip out the touch cover and use the mouse/touchpad and it works fine. The mouse is also handy for dragging and dropping files to and from network drives in explorer and when using real office programs. Oh yeah, iPads don't need a mouse for that either...

 

[Tom T]

Hover is another useful aspect of a digitizer and Stylus. Now the new Samsung Galaxy S4 may have figured this one out, if not to address that particular issue.

 

[pallentx]

Yes, I love that Samsung keeps the stylus in their product lines. That's one thing that I miss about RT vs the Surface Pro.