IN ITS most strategically significant push yet into the hardware business, Microsoft this week unveiled a tablet computer called Surface that is intended to challenge Apple’s iPad. The company showed off the device, which is about the same weight and thickness as an iPad, with a 10.6-inch screen, at an event in Los Angeles.
The tablet has a built-in “kickstand” that will allow users to prop it up for watching movies, and a thin detachable cover that will serve double duty as a keyboard. The Surface tablet runs a variation of Windows 8, a forthcoming version of Microsoft’s flagship operating system that is due out in the autumn.
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, said the product was part of a long-standing tradition at Microsoft to create hardware, like computer mice, that show off innovations in its software. “We want to give Windows 8 its own companion hardware innovations,” Ballmer said.
Company executives were largely mum, however, on how Surface would affect the company’s relationships with PC makers, the hardware companies that are the vehicles for sales of Windows software.
With its new tablet, Microsoft will effectively be competing directly with its biggest customers. When asked whether Surface would damage those ties, Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft’s Windows division, gently pushed a reporter in the direction of a stand of Surface tablets and said, “Go learn something.”
Analysts said it wasn’t clear that Microsoft could depend on PC companies to build something as compelling as the iPad.
“This was clearly a referendum on Microsoft’s partners,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Gartner, a technology research firm. “Microsoft felt they could not rely on others to deliver on their vision for Windows 8 in mobile computing.”
Microsoft’s decision to create its own tablet was an acknowledgment that the company needed to depart from its regular way of doing business to get a grip on a threat to its dominance in computing.
While it has made a few hardware products over the years, including the Xbox video game console, Zune music player and computer keyboards, Microsoft is still thought of largely as a software company.
It has for decades left the work of creating the machines that run Windows to Hewlett-Packard, Dell and others.
The response to Apple’s iPad has considerably raised consumers’ expectations of how well hardware and software work together. That has put pressure on Microsoft to create a tighter marriage of hardware and software if it is to compete seriously with Apple’s products.
As it prepares to release Windows 8, which is designed for touch-screen devices, Microsoft can ill afford a flop.
The iPad has already eaten into sales of low-end Windows laptops, and there are growing signs that Apple’s tablet is becoming increasingly attractive to business customers, a lucrative market Microsoft has dominated for years.
Microsoft said one version of the Surface tablet would come with 32 gigabytes or 64 gigabytes of storage and feature a type of chip called ARM that is commonly used in mobile devices. Sinofsky said the price would be comparable to that of other tablets that use ARM chips. He said a professional version of the tablet would come with an Intel processor, which is standard in more conventional PCs, and would be similar in price to ultrabooks, thin laptops that often start at about $1,000 (€790).
Sinofsky said the ARM tablet would be available when the next version of Windows was released this autumn, and the professional version would go on sale a few months later. With the detachable keyboard for Surface, known as Touch Cover, Microsoft seemed to be positioning its tablet as a more business-friendly alternative to the iPad, one that is better suited to productivity tasks that require faster typing.
The keyboard has touch-sensing keys that become inactive when the cover is closed.
The keyboard could make Surface more competitive with Apple’s thin MacBook Air and more traditional Windows laptops. It will come in a variety of bright colours, adding a whimsical touch to the dark, hard-edged appearance of Surface. The company would not say whether the keyboard will be sold with Surface, or separately.
One thing that will most likely limit sales of the tablet is Microsoft’s initial plan to sell it only in the company’s own retail stores, along with its web store. Microsoft has opened 20 stores and five more are coming soon.
On Monday, Microsoft seemed to borrow from Apple in the way it introduced the product. The company invited the news media to the event with only a few days’ notice and maintained an unusual air of secrecy around its details, withholding even its exact location until Monday morning. If that wasn’t enough to pique the interest of the tech industry, the company took the risky step of more explicitly building up expectations for the event by promising invitees a “major Microsoft announcement”, and telling them they “will not want to miss it”.
In part, the secrecy worked, sending the blogosphere into a whirlwind of speculation about what was planned.
The location of the event suggested the device would be accompanied by a push into entertainment. But Microsoft announced no such plan and offered no explanation for why it held its event in Los Angeles. – New York Times service
Microsoft’s Surface versus Apple’s iPad: How the tablet computers measure up
The Surface will come in two versions, one running Windows RT, based on the same chip designs that power most tablet computers today, and a higher performance version running Windows 8 Pro. Here’s how the basic Surface measures up against the iPad:
* The RT Surface boasts a thickness of 9.3 millimetres, versus the iPads 9.4 millimetres.
* It will weigh about 1.5 pounds. Apples iPads weigh 1.44 pounds and 1.46 pounds for the WiFi and 4G LTE versions, respectively.
* A 10.6-inch-diagonal screen, compared with the iPads 9.7-inch screen. The Surface also features a unique 16:9 aspect ratio.
* The RT Surface is configurable with 32 GB or 64 GB of storage. Apples iPad has 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB options.
* Pricing was not revealed on Monday, except that it would be competitive with current tablets and Intel-powered Ultrabooks. Apples iPads go for $499 to $699 for the WiFi model, and $629 to $829 for various storage sizes of the 4G LTE model.
* The RT Surface features a built-in kickstand and comes with a cover that doubles as an ultra-thin keyboard. Apples iPad supports a plethora of third-party covers, stands and keyboards, as well as its own Smart Cover for $39 to $69.
* The Surface features USB ports, 2x2 MIMO antennae and MicroSD slots, as well as display outputs. Apples iPad features the 30-pin dock connector port.
– Reuters
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