Dubai: Microsoft is expected to launch its new tablet — Surface — concurrently with its Window 8 launch, which is expected to be in October or November.
The world’s largest software maker is stepping up its assault on the tablet market as consumers choose the devices over laptops, weakening the personal-computer market and curbing Windows revenue.
Analysts gave the as yet unpriced devices a cautious welcome. “The two products are not revolutionary but they do look very appealing and have a wow factor that will attract users. It shows the innovation capacities of Microsoft,” said Annette Zimmermann , Principal Research Analyst at Gartner.
She said the purpose for Microsoft to introduce this product range is to show its partners the way to beautiful design and nice specs, but success would depend on the price and the apps available for the devices.
Apple has so far seen off most of its competitors in the tablet computers market including Blackberry maker Research in Motion and Hewlett Packard. Amazon’s Kindle has challenged Apple’s dominance but with a far less versatile and powerful machine.
In 2011, Apple sold over 40 million iPads, out of worldwide tablet sales of 60 million.
Zimmermann said the Surface might appeal to business users already used to Microsoft Windows operating system, an area where Apple has been making inroads with iPads and iPhones. “It is certainly a very competitive product in that space,” she said.
Microsoft said the Surface’s price will be announced closer to when the devices are available and will be “competitive with a comparable ARM tablet or Intel Ultrabook-class PC.”
Apple’s iPads go for $499 to $699 for the WiFi model, and $629 to $829 for various storage sizes of the 4G LTE model.
Gartner expects the Surface to cost less than $699 in the US and be launched before the Christmas selling season. Microsoft wants to release Windows 8, the new version of its software that is optimised for touch-screen tablets, in time for the end-of-year holidays and will have a version for x86 chips from Intel Corp. and for ones based on ARM Holdings’ technology, which is also used in the iPad. The Surface tablet will be available in versions running both chip designs.
The version for ARM will go on sale when Windows 8 is released. The Intel-based version will be available about 90 days later, Microsoft said in a statement.
“Windows 8 will arrive amid a deteriorating PC market,” Zimmermann said.
Microsoft‘s entry into the tablet market also comes as challengers such as HP. and Research In Motion “have failed to derail Apple’s dominance with their own tablets,” she said.
Research firm IDC predicts the iPad will account for 62.5 per cent of global shipments this year, up from 58.2 per cent last year.
Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at Forrester Research, said Microsoft’s focus on trying to best Apple in hardware design could backfire if Surface tablets don’t offer software that stands out.
