After almost a week’s speculation on what major announcement the software giant would be making, Microsoft has revealed its own-brand family of tablets named the Microsoft Surface.
With its sleek design, the Surface hopes to change the fortunes of Microsoft and how it’s perceived as “cool” especially among the consumers.
Although the Surface comes across as a “serious” tablet running Windows 8, it should also appeal to the traditional iPad and Android tablet buyer given its design and looks.
What will make it more appealing to consumers would be the eco-system around it including the applications available for use on the Surface, and also whether it is a scaled down version of a PC.
Both versions of the Surface — Windows RT and Windows 8 Pro — come full I/O ports like microSD and USB.
It also comes with configurable hard disk drives starting at 32GB. Both features are a huge differentiator from the iPad which comes with no I/O ports and lives you stuck with the built-in storage.
Shipping dates for the African market have not been announced yet. It also remains to be seen whether this is not just a sleek looking PC developed by Microsoft.
Interestingly though, the Surface is not developed by any of Microsoft’s hardware partners (e.g. HP, Dell) but it is Microsoft hardware running Microsoft software.
Despite its successes in the software industry, Microsoft has struggled when venturing out of its “comfort zone” with the exception of the Xbox.
Their partnership with Nokia directly affects the sales of the Windows Mobile based range of phones, and with Finnish company struggling financially, it is yet to be seen if Windows Mobile can challenge iOS and Android in the smartphone wars.
Its entry into music with the Microsoft Zune never really took off, or challenged the iPod. Their Hotmail platform seems to have waned off lagging far behind GMail and possibly Yahoo Mail. Its search engine Bing still accounts for a very low number of Web searches as compared to Google; Google has 900,000,000 monthly users globally compared to Bing’s 165,000,000.
