After long days of anticipation -- and a great deal of speculation -- Microsoft (IW 500/16) unveiled its newest gadget to the market this week: the Surface tablet.
Presented to a select crowd of enthusiastic journalists and bloggers in an elite Los Angeles venue, the wide-screen device promises a heavy load of innovative new features packed into a slight, 9.3 millimeter frame. Most notably of these are an integrated stand and a three millimeter pressure sensitive cover that doubles as a fully-functional keyboard, which drew spontaneous applause from the crowd.
The secrecy leading up to this presentation and the flash of its delivery recalled Apple's (IW 500/14) preferred style rather closely -- and the allusion seems intentional.
With its HD screen and light-weight, user-friendly design, the device is clearly designed with the consumer in mind, which places Microsoft squarely into Apple's turf.
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| The Surface will be available with either the Windows RT or Windows 8 Pro OS. No information on price or release date has yet been released. |
Moving focus on the consumer rather than the enterprise, said Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps, marks a fundamental pivot in Microsoft's product strategy. Doing so, she said, "lets Microsoft compete with vertically-integrated Apple on more even ground."
Taking the iPad head on like this may seem like an overly ambitious position for the company's first step into the tablet market, but CEO Steve Balmer is confident that this new device has what it takes to face that perpetual market-dominator, even after so many competitors have fallen in the attempt.
The trick to this, he said during Monday's event, is to give users the entertainment value they expect from tablets and add something new to the mix: productivity.
"People want access to information and the ability to create content anywhere anytime," he said.
"People want to do all that without compromising the productivity PCs are uniquely known for, from personal productivity applications, to technical applications business software and literally millions of other applications written for Windows."
