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Mini - Microsoft Surface Tablet on the Way...
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Microsoft's Surface tablets have been around for 9 months and now there are rumors of a third addition to the surface family. Not unexpectedly, Microsoft is planning on not just having a Mini Surface with a 7 or 8 inch screen, but supporting other vendors 7 inch screen tablets. This is a tough market.. slightly bigger then a smartphone, smaller then a tablet.. The key is that Microsoft is going to support screen resolutions of 1024x768 which is the general 7 inch tablet resolution. Speculation so far is that the Windows RT operating system with some improvements will power these mini tablets. Microsoft's partners have been working on 7 and 8 inch tablets although we don't know if Microsoft will unveil their own 7 inch mini tablet in June, or if they will show off their partners tablets running Windows RT at the BUILD confrence in June 25-28th in San Francisco. This tablet is aimed at the residential home market, which is a good fit. Although there are some challenges that will affect this tablet, in the same way the larger Surface RT/PRO models. There aren't enough app's for this Operating System yet, much like the Failed HP Touchpad, Microsoft can't compete with Google and Apple. The saving gace here are the Office apps. Perfect tablet for around the house if you need to do some light work on a surf the internet, spreadsheet, edit a word document, do facebook or read an ebook. This is where the problems arise. A like equiped knockoff no name 7 inch tablet running Android 4.2 (complete with angry birds) can be 1/3 the expected price of a 7 inch Surface. The lack of enough free applications isn't winning over the hearts of the younger generation kids either. Is this a good idea. This is a niche market, but Microsoft has to do this, not as a money maker, but to show the partner ecosysterm, vendors and suppliers that they are serious about the mobile market, and this isn't another half hearted project like Windows CE was (many times over). |