surface

After all of the hoopla this week, you would think the Surface tablet was the end of the PC industry as we know it.

Not so fast, say analysts. What we know so far is that Surface will be sold through Microsoft Stores only in the U.S. -- the online store and brick-and-mortar outlets.

Ever been to a Microsoft Store? Didn't think so. There just aren't that many. I count about 20.

Compare that with the long list of Apple Stores in the U.S.

Here's the challenge: to be a hit, a product has to … Read more

Uh oh, looks like Mircrosoft's partners really are not big fans of the Surface.

Oliver Ahrens, Acer's senior VP and president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, told Reuters that Microsoft's strategy to take on Apple with the Surface tablet will fail.

Microsoft left its partners in the dark about its tablet, releasing it this week at a secretive, Apple-style press event. While it generated some buzz, there are still questions around price, battery life, and connectivity that may take away from its initial energy. And Ahren's comments probably don't help.

"I don't … Read more

It's time to live large, change your fate and flip out:

Nintendo just ordered up a supersized version of the 3DS. Going on sale on August 19 for $200, the 3DS XL is 90% larger than the original 3DS. Nintendo could have taken this product in a new direction for gamers by using the extra space to add a second analog stick. But no, the XL has the same design as the 3DS. It's also a bit odd that Nintendo didn't announce this two weeks ago at E3.

So who would want the 3DS XL? Larger screens … Read more

Microsoft Surface, the tablet running Windows 8 or Windows RT with the nifty keyboard cover, sure looks like it's gunning for Apple's iPad. But the more we hear about it, the more it seems Ballmer and company's new hardware play may be packing a BB gun rather than a bazooka.

Granted, there's a lot to like about the Surface -- the new Windows OS is intriguing, Gorilla Glass is great and that integrated stand is the kind of design ingenuity we'd expect from a company located a little further south on the Pacific coast.

But … Read more

week in review Microsoft stole the tech news spotlight this week, initially by introducing its first Microsoft-branded tablet device, the Surface, which effectively helps it play catch-up in the competitive iPad-led tablet market. And then at the same developer conference, it made its next-generation mobile operating system, Windows Phone 8, official and promised the OS would ship on handsets starting this fall.

Microsoft is breaking with its traditional business model by building and branding its own Surface tablet, effectively competing with its own hardware partners such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Lenovo. The company has so far avoided irritating manufacturers that … Read more

You set the stage after months, if not years of hard work. It's time to inform your corporate friends and distinguished members of the media to come to Los Angeles at a moment's notice, and tell them only at the last minute exactly where to go.

Everything is shrouded in the utmost secrecy. Only a handful of people know internally what the company has up its sleeve.

Announced: the Surface tablet. Revealed on June 18, it would change the landscape of tablet computing for decades, and rival the market dominance of Apple's iPad.

Then this happens. (… Read more

Windows is about to become a lot more portable. Microsoft hopes that its new mobile moves will also make it a lot more popular for buyers shopping for smartphones and tablets.

Microsoft has dabbled in both the phone and tablet worlds, but without the resounding sales success Apple and Android have achieved.

Now that Windows Phone 8 is due in the fall and Surface tablets are in the pipeline, it looks like Microsoft is going all in with the mobilization of Windows.

Both Windows Phone 8 and Surface will tie in strongly with the company's still-popular desktop OS, perhaps … Read more

Microsoft's much talked about Surface tablet may be Wi-Fi only, according to Bloomberg.

The news agency reports that people familiar with the tablet's specs say the device will go on sale without any mobile-phone network connection, but will come with a short-range Wi-Fi connection. This could change in later models.

Surface will be running Microsoft's next-generation Windows operating system and marks the company's first foray into the ever-expanding tablet market. Though the software giant has unveiled Surface, it has yet to release all the details on the specifications.

For months now, various pundits have been deriding the upcoming Windows 8 as the next Vista. People have made mocking videos showing older people thoroughly confused by Windows 8's Metro tile interface. Indeed, the Windows 8 Metro interface is radically different than the traditional Windows desktop. It's a touch interface.

Yet the same pundits that slammed Windows 8 on the desktop are now lauding Microsoft Surface, the Windows 8-powered touch tablet that Microsoft announced Monday. Since the Windows 8 Metro software hasn't changed, what exactly is so different? After all, Microsoft is demonstrating the exact same interface … Read more