surface

June 19, 2012

TechWatch: Scratching Microsoft’s Surface

With Microsoft’s high-profile debut of Surface yesterday here in Los Angeles it’s no longer a question of when the computer giant will enter the lucrative tablet market, but if their product will either challenge or possibly dethrone Apple’s iPad. This will undoubtedly be a topic of debate for some time, but one thing’s for sure: with the market share Microsoft commands among desktops and laptops, they aren’t just aiming to compete with Apple, but ultimately dominate. In the interim, the Los Angeles Times has done a very nice side-by-side comparison of Surface and iPad. It’s verdict? They top each other in certain aspects, but Microsoft ignominiously wins in the rather troubling category of unanswered questions — the biggest of them all being how much will Surface cost. In revealing Surface yesterday all the company said was that when it becomes available sometime in the fall, the price will compete with other tablets on the market. That’s one heck of a cliffhanger with which to leave consumers. Depending on the model, iPads run between $499 and $829. If Microsoft’s definition of “competitive” is higher than those price points that could be a hurdle for Surface v1.0 to overcome, and put a […]