While Apple unveiled its newest iPads on Tuesday, rival Microsoft attempted to steal some of its thunder in releasing its competing Surface 2 tablet, along with the new Type Cover 2 accessory. AppleInsider provides a first look at the tablet that will go head to head with Apple's iPad Air this holiday season.
Less than a month after it first went on sale, Apple's refreshed, moderately enhanced iPhone 5c has been targeted as possibly being a failure in scores of reports across a wide variety of major news outlets, even drawing comparisons to Microsoft's Surface flop. Can the company survive another 48 hours?
A study benchmarking the touchscreen latency of popular tablets shows Apple's iPad mini and full sized iPad 4 leading response times of other tablets, with Android offerings dead last.
Microsoft's marketing coup in selling Delta Airlines its Surface 2 tablet for use as an Electronic Flight Bag in place of Apple's iPad created friction with the company's pilots, who "fought hard" against the deal.
Atlanta-based Delta Airlines will reportedly equip its pilots with Microsoft's Surface 2 tablet, rather than Apple's iPad, as the airline rolls out its electronic flight bag program in the coming years.
Though Microsoft has lost hundreds of millions of dollars on its Surface tablets, the company made it clear on Monday that it has no intention of backing away from the platform, going as far as to openly state plans are in place for future Surface tablets in the years to come.
Members of the media were given their first hands-on with Microsoft's new slimmer and lighter Surface tablets and accompanying accessories on Monday, and AppleInsider was on-hand for the event.
Microsoft on Monday used a media event in Manhattan to show off the next wave of its Surface devices, doubling down on an effort to simulate Apple's widely successful ecosystem by which the company is responsible for developing both the tablet's software and hardware.
Microsoft's Surface tablet lineup, which has thus far failed to gain traction against Apple's iPads, saw a permanent price cut this week, most notably among the high-end Surface Pro, which now sells for $100 less.
Microsoft is looking to make a bigger splash in the education segment for both its hardware and search divisions, offering schools the ability to earn free Surface RT units in exchange for regular use of its Bing search platform.
Even as it prepares a critical update to its Windows 8 platform, Microsoft has become the target of a lawsuit alleging that the software giant misled investors regarding both Windows RT and the Surface RT device it released last year.
Microsoft continued to bash the iPad in its latest Surface RT commercial, this time digging up and re-airing old arguments against the Apple tablet, like a lack of keyboard and higher price point.
While market research firms publicly report that Apple's iPad is "losing market share" in tablet shipments, their data also says something else: Apple continues to obliterate Samsung, Google's Android, Microsoft, Amazon and the rest of the industry in tablet profits.
It was revealed on Tuesday that Microsoft has made only $853 million on its Surface tablet since the product line was introduce eight months ago, a number less than the company's write-down to adjust for unsold inventory, as well as an ad campaign pushing the device and Windows 8.
This last week, Microsoft announced disappointing earnings that reflected the battered market for PCs and the company's inability to gain traction in smartphones. But most notable was the $900 million "inventory adjustment" related to Surface RT, Microsoft's beleaguered iPad contender. How could it have failed so badly?
As reports claim Apple is gearing up to launch a so-called "iWatch," another rumor claims that Microsoft is late enough in the development stage of its own smart watch that testing of the device has moved over to the company's Surface hardware development team.
Having failed to gain traction in the tablet market, Microsoft has cut the price of its Surface RT tablet so low that the 10.6-inch device now costs nearly the same amount as Apple's entry-level iPad mini.
Attempting to carve out a niche for its low-selling Surface RT, Microsoft took a step into Apple's territory this week, offering the device to schools and universities for as low as $199.
Microsoft is said to be planning to introduce its second generation of Surface tablets with smaller displays this June, but the company is reportedly taking a "cautious" approach after the initial models got off to a lukewarm start.
Apple's iPad fell to 39.6 percent of total worldwide tablet shipments in the first quarter of calendar 2013, according to the latest market data from research firm IDC.
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Neil Hughes
Daniel Eran Dilger
Shane Cole
Kevin Bostic
Sam Oliver
AppleInsider Staff
Mikey Campbell
