The next few months may see Microsoft taking the fight for the smaller tablet market to Apple, firing back at the iPad mini with one or more similarly-sized devices running some form of Windows.
The release of the iPad three years ago has had a brutal impact on conventional PC sales, but new data on tablet use shows that Apple is not just fending off tablet competitors, it's advancing on them.
Recent changes quietly made to the Windows 8 hardware certification guidelines suggest that Microsoft could be gearing up to debut a new, smaller "Windows Reader" tablet designed to compete with more portable devices like Apple's iPad mini.
Microsoft's answer to the iPad, the Surface RT and Surface Pro tablets, have stumbled out of the gates, moving just 1.5 million units since launch, according to a new report.
The year 2013 will be the one in which shipments of tablets running Google's Android operating system will pass those of Apple's iPad, according to a new analysis out from IDC.
If Microsoft's Surface tablets fail to take off, the company does not have a backup plan so much as a plan to keep tweaking its approach until Surface succeeds, according to the company's chief financial officer.
Microsoft has announced "amazing" customer response to its tablet/notebook hybrid Surface Pro, and reports have noted that the higher end 128GB model has sold out in some locations "immediately" after going on sale, just as the Zune HD did in 2009.
After wide-ranging media reports bashed Microsoft over questionable claims regarding the new Surface Pro's built-in flash storage, a side-by-side comparison between the tablet and Apple's 11.6-inch MacBook Air reveal the two devices share the same amount of disk space.
With Microsoft's Surface Pro about to hit store shelves, review embargoes have been lifted and tech writers across the web are releasing their thoughts on the company's second ever attempt at building a personal computer.
An uptick in mobile web usage by iOS devices, matched by an even greater decline in Android web traffic since November, is calling into question figures from IDC that reported an apparent, significant slippage by Apple in global tablet market share.
Microsoft has promised its Surface RT follow-up, the Surface Pro, to be a full-featured Windows 8 tablet complete with a host of built-in apps, but the operating system and software will take up as much as 64 percent of the device's onboard storage depending on the model.
Microsoft this week announced its second quarter of fiscal 2013 earnings, revealing more than 60 million Windows 8 licenses sold. Industry observers, though, remain cautious on the software giant in light of trends in the PC sector.
Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it will expand its Surface tablet lineup next month with the new "Pro" model running Windows 8, as well as a new "RT" version with 64 gigabytes of storage.
Samsung no longer plans to launch a tablet in the U.S. running Microsoft's Windows RT platform due to a number of factors, including consumer confusion and slow sales.
An executive at one of Microsoft's largest PC partners, Dell, warned that the "Windows RT" branding for its tablet operating system might confuse consumers because it does not run traditional Windows applications.
A lack of retail presence is reportedly "killing" the Microsoft Surface, which has prompted the company to expand availability of its iPad-competing tablet beyond Microsoft's own stores.
Microsoft on Thursday announced the pricing for its forthcoming Surface Pro tablet, starting at $899 for the entry-level 64-gigabyte version with an Intel processor and the full Windows 8 operating system.
At Microsoft's annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday, CEO Steve Ballmer conceded that the company was late to the tablet market now dominated by Apple's iPad, but suggested the software giant would have led the shift to portable devices if it entered the computer hardware business earlier.
A comparison of Apple and Microsoft retail stores on Black Friday found that nearly 5 times as many items were purchased per hour at the Apple Store.
Microsoft decided to oust Windows head Steve Sinofsky after former CEO Bill Gates reportedly expressed his support for current CEO Steve Ballmer.
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Kevin Bostic
Daniel Eran Dilger
Sam Oliver
Mikey Campbell
AppleInsider Staff
Brian Marder
Neil Hughes
Katie Marsal
