It was reported the other day that Delta Airlines had decided to equip about 11,000 of their pilots with Microsoft Surface 2 tablets. It was an interesting move given that the Surface 2 tablets were only recently announced, not to mention its predecessor wasn’t exactly a hit. As it turns out, according to a pilot who spoke to Apple Insider, the pilots of Delta Airlines actually fought hard to get the company to equip them with Apple’s iPad tablets rather than Microsoft’s Surface 2 tablets. The pilot alleges that Microsoft and Delta had some kind of deal involving money and travel contracts, which was why the airline company had gone with Surface 2 tablets rather than the more popular iPad.
The tablets were purchased to replace flight bags, which are bags filled with manuals that add a lot of weight and bulk to the plane, and the tablets are meant to provide a digital solution in a smaller and lighter form factor. This is not to say that the Microsoft Surface 2 tablet is bad or horrible to use, but rather it does not have the same track record as Apple’s iPad, but who knows, perhaps the pilots will eventually learn to love Microsoft’s latest product.