Microsoft resurfaces in the continuing tablet wars

MICROSOFT sought to reboot its faltering tablet hardware business on Monday as it unveiled second-generation models of the devices it has designed to bridge the gap between PCs and pure touchscreen machines.

The revamp drew a more optimistic response from industry analysts than the first version of the Surface devices, which was launched late last year and flopped.

“Microsoft clearly learned,” said Richard Doherty, an analyst at tech research firm Envisioneering. The addition of a new tablet cover that turns into a highly sensitive touchpad could give the company an edge over Apple in a promising new area of technology, he said.

Microsoft recently slashed the price and took a $900m charge against one model of its firstgeneration Surface tablets, called the RT. The machine was the first to run the Windows operating system on the lowpower ARM chips usually found in smartphones and tablets. The write-down more than offset the $853m in revenues Microsoft reported for the RT and an Intel-based Pro model in their first eight months on the market. By contrast, Apple sold $25.8bn worth of iPads in the past nine months.

Better performance, longer battery lives and more apps are set to make the secondgeneration Microsoft tablets far more attractive to potential customers, industry analysts said. Moves to heighten the appeal of RT, now renamed Surface 2, include a silver casing and a rebranding that takes the Windows logo off the machines. Prices were left unchanged from those of the firstgeneration devices, at $499 for Surface 2, and $899 for a Pro model, designed to compete with Ultrabookss.

But even with more attractive hardware, Microsoft will have to do better with its branding and marketing for Surface to have a chance, according to JP Gownder, an analyst at Forrester Research. Microsoft executives have admitted slips last year in the marketing of their first push into touch-based technology, including the Windows 8 operating system and Surface, and promised a more effective rollout for new software and devices later this year. The latest Surface tablets are set to face strong competition in this year’s allimportant holiday sales season, with companies such as Apple and Amazon heavily tipped to bring out new machines.

“We’ll probably see better iPads in the next four weeks before (Surface) ships,” said Doherty.

The new Surface touchsensitive covers are embedded with more than 1,000 sensors, making it possible to build them for specific applications.

In a demonstration of the capability, Microsoft showed off a cover that acted as an audio mixer, with the usual sliders and switches embedded into the touch-sensitive surface.