{"id":15815,"date":"2012-06-19T02:08:08","date_gmt":"2012-06-19T00:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=15815"},"modified":"2012-06-19T10:36:18","modified_gmt":"2012-06-19T08:36:18","slug":"microsofts-surface-tablet-to-take-on-apples-ipad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/hardware\/15815\/microsofts-surface-tablet-to-take-on-apples-ipad\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft’s Surface tablet to take on Apple’s iPad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Microsoft Corp<\/a> unveiled a tablet called Surface on Monday, in a move to rival Apple Inc’s<\/a> massively successful iPad.<\/p>\n

The world’s largest software maker is on track to launch its touch-friendly Windows 8<\/a> operating system this autumn and wants to make a big impact with its own device to kickstart demand.<\/p>\n

The tablet will come in two versions, one running on traditional Intel Corp<\/a> chips, and another using ARM Holdings<\/a>. Both will have a fold-out cover that becomes a keyboard.<\/p>\n

A prototype was demonstrated by Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer<\/a> at an event in Los Angeles. The tablets will be available when Windows 8 ships later this year, according to a Microsoft statement.<\/p>\n

No details on pricing were mentioned, except that it would be “comparable” with current ARM tablets and Intel-powered Ultrabooks.<\/p>\n

Microsoft shares rose slightly in after-hours trading. They closed down 0.6 percent at $29.84 in the regular Nasdaq session.<\/p>\n

Launching its own tablet potentially throws Microsoft into direct competition with its closest hardware partners such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd<\/a> and Hewlett-Packard Co<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sales of tablets are expected to triple in the next two years, topping 180 million a year in 2013, easily outpacing growth in traditional PCs. Apple has sold 67 million iPads in two years since launch. (See graphic, http:\/\/link.reuters.com\/myc88s)<\/p>\n

Apple, which makes both hardware and software for greater control over the performance of the final product, has revolutionized mobile markets with its smooth, seamless phones and tablets. Rival Google Inc<\/a> may experiment with a similar approach after buying phone maker Motorola Mobility<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n

Related articles<\/strong><\/p>\n

Microsoft set to unveil new tablet on Monday \u2013 reports<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Microsoft users apprehensive about Windows 8<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Microsoft to acquire Yammer for $1 billion?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Microsoft Corp unveiled a tablet called Surface on Monday, in a move to rival Apple Inc’s massively successful iPad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":15817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[25,51,92,169,3221,1111],"class_list":["post-15815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hardware","tag-active","tag-apple","tag-ipad","tag-microsoft","tag-surface","tag-tablet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15815"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15836,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15815\/revisions\/15836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}