Microsoft unveiled its first tablet computer, a sign of the new tactics the company is taking on as it tries to make up lost ground in the market for mobile devices. George Stahl has details on The News Hub. Photo: Reuters.
HOLLYWOOD, Calif.—Microsoft Corp. on Monday unveiled the first computer it has ever made, a tablet called the Surface that comes with a keyboard and other features designed to stand out in a market dominated by Apple Inc.
The new device, unveiled by Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer at an event for journalists here, is a sign of the new tactics the software giant has been forced to embrace as it tries to make up lost ground in the mobile market.
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Microsoft said the smallest Surface tablet is 9.3 millimeters thick and weighs 1.5 pounds, which is similar to Apple's iPad, at 9.4 millimeters thick and 1.44 pounds. The Surface has a 10.6-inch screen compared with the iPad's 9.7-inch screen.
The Surface has a built-in kickstand and magnetic cover, which also acts as a touch keyboard. Microsoft didn't say whether the device would connect to cellular data networks or would be Wi-Fi only.
Interactive: The Surface TabletExplore the tablet's features and specs.
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Photos: Microsoft's EventView Slideshow
AFP/Getty ImagesMicrosoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer introduced the Surface tablet during a news conference on June 18.
Microsoft's Hardware EffortsView Slideshow
Marianna Day Massey/Zuma PressThe Xbox 360 console
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The Surface will "be priced like comparable tablets," Windows Chief Steve Sinofsky said. Microsoft will sell the tablets itself at Microsoft's handful of retail stores and through some online channels.
Microsoft didn't identify contractors who will manufacture the hardware, or provide much clarity on timing—except to say that the first Surface models will arrive when Windows 8 is generally available, which is expected to be in the second half of the year.
Mr. Ballmer styled the new tablet device as a vehicle to exploit its forthcoming Windows 8 operating system, and a variant called Windows RT that relies on different kinds of computer chips. The software is the first from Microsoft designed with tablet computers in mind, offering an interface called Metro that is designed to be controlled by a user touching a display.
Mr. Ballmer and other Microsoft executives repeatedly use the words "no compromises" to describe the tablet computers they envision running Windows 8 and Windows RT—which means that users will be able to use work-oriented tools like Microsoft Word and Excel programs, not just be used for watching movies and surfing the Web.
Microsoft also emphasized the use of the Surface with a keyboard, a convertible usage model that the company has helped champion and Apple has publicly discounted.
"The Surface is a PC, the Surface is a tablet and the Surface is something new that we think people will really love," Mr. Ballmer said in wrapping up the event, which lasted less than one hour.
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CloseAl Hilwa, an analyst at IDC, said the combination of PC and tablet features makes surface a "true converged" device. "A Swiss Army knife of a tablet?"
Microsoft's involvement with tablet-style computing goes back more than three decades, supplying software to companies for products designed to be activated with a pen-style device. But those machines failed to gain wide acceptance. The Surface, and the new versions of Windows, are an attempt to emulate the touch-based interaction that Apple popularized with the iPhone and iPad.
The company also used the name Surface for a tabletop computer it first demonstrated several years ago.
Microsoft executives said the company's decision to make a homegrown tablet computer fits with the history of Microsoft making hardware when it is needed to bolster the company's software, such as Microsoft's making one of the earliest computer mouses.
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