- Microsoft Surface will use same Windows 8 operating system as PCs
- Comes with built-in stand and keyboard to replicate experience of laptop
- Company refuses to reveal price of tablet or confirm exact release date
By Daily Mail Reporter
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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has an uphill battle on his hands.
He needs to break into the tablet market, taking on both the iconic market-leader, the iPad, as well as as an ever-burgeoning range of svelte Android tablets.
However, after Microsoft's repeated attempts over 30 years to break into the tablet market, it now seems the software giant has the right tools to make it right.
The Microsoft Surface tablet was officially unveiled in Los Angeles last night, and from the favourable first impressions, it looks like we have a three-way race in the tablet market.
The Surface comes with a 10.6" screen, a clever magnetic cover which doubles as a keyboard, and a kickstand to hold it upright on a table.
In a huge paradigm shift for Microsoft, the traditional Windows Desktop has been scrapped for Microsoft's new 'Metro' tile-based theme.
The new laptop-esque Surface tablet computer is unveiled by Microsoft, bringing a revolutionary jump to the future of Windows
Microsoft Surface: The new tablet, shown here in the hands of CEO Steve Ballmer, will compete with the iPad
Launch: The tablet is Microsoft's first foray into personal computing hardware for many years
Presentation: The contents of the launch were kept completely secret until the announcement was made
Boss: Mr Ballmer shows off Microsoft's latest gadget at a press conference in Los Angeles
The iPad has been King of the tablet market since its debut in 2010
Surface comes with a number of features which make it more similar to a laptop than a tablet - most notably, a built-in keyboard which could help the device appeal more to business customers.
And the fact that Microsoft is using the same Windows 8 operating system for the Surface as for laptop and desktop computers could mean that customers will find it easier to switch between different devices.
CEO Steve Ballmer was on hand at a press conference in Los Angeles to announce the tablet, calling it part of a 'whole new family of devices' the company is developing.
The 9.3mm-thick tablet, which uses the RT version of Windows, comes with a kickstand to hold it upright and keyboard that is part of the device's cover. It weighs under 1.5 pounds.
In a possible nod to the device's chief rival, it will apparently be 0.1mm thinner than the latest iPad.
A slightly thicker version - still less than 14mm thick and under two pounds - will work on Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 Pro operating system.
Colourful: The Surface is expected to be available for purchase some time later this year
Visionary: Microsoft has high hopes that the Surface will allow it to break in to the lucrative tablet market
Adaptable: The device is designed to function both as a tablet and as a more traditional laptop
IPAD AND SURFACE SIDE-BY-SIDE
Weight:
Surface 676g iPad 650g
Thickness:
Surface 9.3mm iPad 9.4mm
Screen size:
Surface 10.6" iPad 9.7"
USB:
Surface yes iPad no
Hard drive:
Surface 32GB/64GB iPad 16GB/32GB/64GB
Battery life:
Surface unknown iPad around 6 hours
Price:
Surface unknown iPad from $499
Steven Sinofsky, the president of Microsoft's Windows division, called the device a 'tablet that's a great PC - a PC that's a great tablet.'
They will be available when Windows 8 ships later this year, according to a Microsoft statement.
No details on pricing were mentioned, except that it would be 'comparable' with current ARM tablets and Intel-powered Ultrabooks.
Microsoft has been making software for tablets since 2002, when it shipped the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.
Many big PC makers produced tablets that ran the software, but they were never big sellers. The tablets were based on PC technology, and were heavy, with short battery lives.
Launching its own tablet potentially throws Microsoft into direct competition with its closest hardware partners such as Samsung and Hewlett-Packard.
STATE OF PLAY: ARE MICROSOFT TOO LATE TO THE TABLET WORLD?
Eddie Wrenn looks at the history of three titans - Apple, Microsoft, and Google - as they battle for dominance.
Acceptable in 2006: Windows Mobile just before the first iPhone came out
Microsoft has dragged its feet a bit too long in the tablet market - in almost an exact repeat of the smartphone market.
The iPhone revolutionised the smartphone market in 2007, and then the iPad kickstarted the tablet craze in 2010.
When it came to smartphones in 2006, Microsoft were the entrenched market-leader.
The Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system - which was outstandingly ugly and built for a stylus, but very flexible software-wise - had more than 90 per cent of the smartphone market just seven years ago.
It was very unintuitive - but it was all the market had, and users had to wait for the at-the-time small-fry hardware manufacturer HTC to come along and build a skin to show Microsoft that technical prowess could go hand-in-hand with eye-candy.
Meanwhile Microsoft could not not have a decent tablet to market.
They had kept trying to at least create the market, but kept missing the key features people wanted: portability, usability and style.
But Microsoft could never get deliver anything beyond clunky interfaces or heavy, style-less hardware in either market, and so they limited their potential to niche appeal.
With Apple breaking new ground, this should have given Microsoft a clear goal to step in and join an established market.
And this would have been fine, if it was not for the Rise of Google - or more importantly, Android.
Once Apple paved the way, Google swooped in with their open-sourced, flexible and well-received operating system.
Hardware manufacturers, locked out of Apple's closed world, could adapt Android with almost no cost and no restrictions, and quickly a swarm of smartphones, and then tablets, swamped the market - some great, some good, and others terrible.
The sad thing for Microsoft is that this used to be them - they could license their software and different vendors, such as Dell, or HP, could build computers or smartphones.
But Google has all but cleared up this market, and Microsoft being late to a market once again could be be deadly to the giant.
Windows Phone 7, despite a warm reception from critics and whole-hearted support from Nokia, still languishes at the bottom of the mobile market, unable to gain mass-traction.
It is still behind the long-dead Windows Mobile for market-share, despite all of Microsoft's advertising pushes.
But whereas it took about four years for Microsoft to compete with the iPhone, luckily the gap for the tablet market is only around two years.
This may change over the next few years, but it will be hard to break into either Apple's hardcore fanbase, or Android's million activations worldwide a day.
The Surface may not have the same hurdles. Business professionals may find this a suitable netbook or laptop replacement. Those who do not find Apple or Google's offerings good for productivity may swarm to Microsoft.
And as Microsoft unifies the experience within all its markets and builds its own eco-system, containing Windows 8 on the PC, Windows Phone 8, and the Metro-themed entertainment of the Xbox 360, they may win back a lost generation of people who like Microsoft's technical expertise.
Slim: The Surface is - perhaps not coincidentally - 0.1mm thinner than its chief rival, the iPad
Innovative: But Microsoft has not yet announced how much the Surface will cost when it goes on sale
Each device comes with a kickstand to hold it upright and a keyboard that is part of the device's cover
Components: Microsoft's Panos Panay gives the audience an inside look at the tablet's built-in keyboard
Trendy: Microsoft appears to have learned something from rival Apple when it comes to presentation
Sales of tablets are expected to triple in the next two years, topping 180million a year in 2013, easily outpacing growth in traditional PCs. Apple has sold 67million iPads in two years since the device's launch.
Apple, which makes both hardware and software for greater control over the performance of the final product, has revolutionised mobile markets with its smooth, seamless phones and tablets.
Rival Google may experiment with a similar approach after buying phone maker Motorola this year.
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What rubbish journalism; "Is this the 'iPad killer' at last?" you ask. I mean, ok the iPad isn't perfect, but to have so much technology and versatility in one package is simply amazing. But here you are, not able to wait to watch the products' demise! Well done MS It's good to see you finally being creative, even if borrowing much from the aforesaid manufacturer. But honestly, will anyone with a life be sitting around rubbing their hands together in delighted expectation of the downfall of the 'Surface'? Come on DM, you can do better.
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It might just take a bite out of the apple. ... But then we have all heard the Blue Scream of Death ... :P
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I work in communications and you only have to look at how well Microsoft operating systems fair in the mobile device market to see why they wont dominate. Andriod and Apple OS have too strong a hold in the market for Microsoft now. They'll get 15-20% market share at best and thats with the operating system. Sales of their branded tablet will also be diluted with the other vendors bringing Windows tablets to the market. Apple have the market now. The battle is over.
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I've been in IT for 28 years and I have to say that while this is a good try if Windows 8 is left as I tested it this will be a dismal failure. It's already too little too late and Windows 8 offers little to nothing that iOs and Android have already done very well. MS is going to need to pull off some kind of miracle in the O/S or with pricing. But I predict they won't. 8 is not very intuitive, very cumbersome, and as I tested the O/S it wouldn't even work correctly WITH the the Live logon! This is like me finishing my Bachelors degree in my forties not to get ahead, but just to keep up.
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The Microsoft-or-nothing PC paradigm of the last 20-years is eroding rapidly, driven to a great extent by Apple's iOS and obsessive attention to quality through superb Fit-Form-Function. Yet again, MS is late to the paradigm party. It really does have its work cut out, not helped by the fact that the market is led by products equivalent to Rolls Royces. There have been no system limitations to prevent iPads connecting to corporate Windows and UNIX networks, databases and applications. In fact, corporate and institutional IT departments across the USA are widely adopting iPad and iPhone as supported standards (really iOS), all untethered of course. In the process, legacy corporate Blackberries are retreating against a flood of iPhones, and Windows based laptops for work on the go, and at home are being dumped for iPads. These are facts. I wish MS well in their efforts.
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Oops, shame it completely failed to work! Search for "Microsoft surface fail" at YouTube...
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windows say no more leave it about a year then get one or suffer and suffer you will
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Just went to the website... - Simon, London, 19/6/2012 13:1****Yes, and????????
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I would probably buy one just to put two fingers up to smug, predictably boring , pretentious Mac geeks - like the ones who are commenting now on this forum! - simon, Watford, herts, 19/6/2012 8:44 Simon - A lot of people enjoy Apple products as they are different and interesting compared to a lot of the other manufacturers that are all a bit samey. There is no reason why you cant buy, own and love something - better that than someone buying the alternative just to put two fingers up to them. How boring and pretentious of you.
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Stupid name for a stupid product designed for stupid people.
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