MICROSOFT'S WORLD PARTNERS CONFERENCE IN TORONTO: Surface, Microsoft Corp. has unveiled a tablet PC that aims to challenge the dominance of the iPad

Microsoft Corp. has unveiled a tablet PC that aims to challenge the dominance of the iPad, but it has also taken a page from the playbook of rival Apple Inc. and its co-founder Steve Jobs.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced a line of new Windows-powered Microsoft Surface tablet computer at an event in Los Angeles Monday that was shrouded in Apple-esque mystery and intrigue.

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While details about pricing, apps, battery life and availability will be revealed later, Ballmer did allow that the company is pursuing a radical shift from its strategy of selling software licences to rivals without producing hardware that competes with them.
Instead, Microsoft will go it alone in the tablet world, controlling both software and hardware using an integrated approach that mimics the strategy of Apple, whose iPad accounts for more than 62 per cent of sales in the $75-billion (U.S.) tablet market.
“I feel like Ballmer is channelling Jobs,” said Gartner research director Michael Gartenberg.
He called the tablet strategy a gamble, given that the company risks alienating hardware partners including Toshiba and Lenovo who will now be forced to compete with Microsoft as well as with Apple.
But Gartenberg also noted that the Apple business model has been by far the most successful in a nascent tablet market that is already littered with failed or struggling devices from the likes of Waterloo’s Research In Motion Ltd.
“It’s certainly bold,” he said. “But it is also a referendum on Microsoft’s partners and maybe its retailers as well.” Gartenberg said the tablet venture under the Windows brand may be seen as too crucial to be left to manufacturing partners.
Ballmer introduced a 9.3 millimetre thick tablet line with a 10.6-wide display that will include a business-focused version, Gorilla Glass, its own stand, a full-size USB port, dual Wi-Fi antennae, a multi-touch keyboard and a track pad. Models will come with either 64 gigabytes or 128 GB of storage.

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Microsoft said the tablet will be built in-house using the Windows 8 operating system expected to be rolled out this fall. The Microsoft Surface tablets will be offered at a time when growth in PC sales is slowing and consumer interest in iPads and other tablets is taking flight.
“We believe that any intersection between human and machine can be made better when all aspects of the experience — hardware and software — are considered and working together,” Ballmer said at the invitation-only event. “Today we want to add another bit of excitement” to the Windows 8 story.
Microsoft, whose Windows is the dominant PC operating system, has said tablets running Windows 8 would be released this fall in time for the holiday shopping season. It said the tablets would use Intel-based chips to reach the level of functionality offered by desktop PCs.
Microsoft has sold more than 67 million Xbox 360 video game consoles but its Zune media player, launched in 2006 was cancelled as a stand-alone device last October.
Microsoft’s attempt at building and successfully selling a smartphone, the Kin, also ended in failure.
“I believe that the Surface is a more all-around competitor than the Kindle Fire and certainly a credible competitor in the enterprise space,” said Carolina Milanesi, Gartner’s research vice-president.
A lot of the success will depend on the apps and the price she said, adding that Microsoft will likely offer incentives to app developers and price the tablets at the higher end “while leaving the manufacturing partners to drive prices down.”

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