Ah, be careful not to conflate a (relative) abundance of options with sheer popularity. iPad pens and note-taking apps certainly have a following, but I wouldn't call them mainstream.
My beef with Microsoft isn't its catering to pen users so much as its overinflation of pens' value. They're nice to have, but most people genuinely don't need or even want them. It was still funny to see Bill Gates (who's obsessed with pen computing, by the way) insist that the iPad would fail because it didn't have a pen and keyboard... only to watch as the iPad outsold several years of Windows tablet PCs in a matter of months.
I honestly think Microsoft should consider forking the Surface Pro line to include a model without a digitizer and pen input, if it saves enough money. Not that it'd suddenly lead to iPad-like popularity, but it's hard to get someone to buy your tablet when it's $799 to start... or $928 if you get it with the keyboard Microsoft wants you to have.
My beef with Microsoft isn't its catering to pen users so much as its overinflation of pens' value. They're nice to have, but most people genuinely don't need or even want them. It was still funny to see Bill Gates (who's obsessed with pen computing, by the way) insist that the iPad would fail because it didn't have a pen and keyboard... only to watch as the iPad outsold several years of Windows tablet PCs in a matter of months.
I honestly think Microsoft should consider forking the Surface Pro line to include a model without a digitizer and pen input, if it saves enough money. Not that it'd suddenly lead to iPad-like popularity, but it's hard to get someone to buy your tablet when it's $799 to start... or $928 if you get it with the keyboard Microsoft wants you to have.