Microsoft announces Surface Tablet

Well the big Microsoft announcement is here, and what do we find behind the curtain... a tablet! (see details on the Verge) The Microsoft Surface is a 10.6 widescreen tablet with an optional keyboard cover (very slick). Unlike most tablets, it is running Windows 8 on Intel chips. So what was missing from the be launch event?



Price

Microsoft stated the new tablet would be priced competitively with other ultrabook offerings. That is very interesting given that you can get an iPad starting at $399 and most ultrabooks cost around $999. If the device is overpriced I just don't see it selling.



Voice

No mention of a Siri type agent or anything like that. That would seem to be a big oversight.



Battery Life

Running Intel chips, one wonders what the battery life will be. But given that the new Macbook Air runs for about 7 hrs on battery, I would think this is probably not gonna be an issue.



Summary

An interesting device. Will it dethrone the iPad, probably not. Will we get some slick keyboard covers for our iPads? Hopefully!