Microsoft reveals iPad rival Surface

The software maker said Monday that its device will attach to a removable rubberised keyboard that also acts like a book cover.

CEO Steve Ballmer said Surface will be an entertainment device “without compromising the productivity that PCs are uniquely known for”.

Microsoft is linking the Surface’s debut with the release of its much-anticipated Windows 8 operating system, which has been designed with tablets in mind.

The company has not specified when Windows 8 will hit the market, but most analysts expect the software to come out in September or October.

One version of the Surface, which will not go on sale until sometime in the autumn, is 9.3mm thick and works on the Windows RT operating system, which was made for tablets that run on low-power chips designed by British chipmaker ARM Holdings PLC.

Similar size to iPad

It comes with a 0.7mm thick kickstand to hold it upright and a 3mm thick touch keyboard cover that snaps on using magnets. The device weighs under 1.5 pounds. The size is similar to the latest iPad, which is 9.4mm thick and weighs 1.3 pounds.

Microsoft says the Surface’s price tag will be similar to the iPad, which sells from £399 to £699 depending on the model.

A slightly thicker version – still less than 14mm thick and under two pounds in weight – will work on Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 Pro operating system and cost as much as an Ultrabook, the company said.

The pro version comes with a stylus that allows users to make handwritten notes on documents such as PDF files. It will be released about three months later.

Microsoft also may be limiting the Surface’s impact by limiting the initial sales to its own stores and online channels.

The foray into hardware is unusual for Microsoft, which relies on manufacturers like Hewlett-Packard and Dell, and could cause friction. Ballmer said the company, at times, needs to push hardware makers “in ways even that the makers of the hardware had yet to envision.”

He said the tablet was as essential to the upcoming Windows 8 operating system as the mouse was for the first version of Windows.

“Much like Windows 1.0 needed the mouse to complete the experience, we wanted to give Windows 8 its own companion hardware innovation,” he said.

First foray into tablets

Microsoft has been making software for tablets since 2002, when it shipped the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Many big PC makers produced tablets that ran the software, but they were never big sellers.

The tablets were based on PC technology, and were heavy, with short battery lives.

Microsoft did not say how long the Surface would last on battery power.

It will not be the first time Microsoft has ventured into hardware.

And the Surface will not be its first computer, in the broad sense. The successful Xbox game console is essentially a PC designed to connect to a TV and play video games.