Microsoft is already working on Surface 2 tablets
Exclusive A dozen job adverts for “the next generation” posted online — Microsoft Surface: great design but there's more to come — The Surface tablets that Microsoft will start selling on 26 October at Microsoft Stores …
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft has staked its tablet entry on volume: it told investors in July 2012 it plans to sell 'a few million' Surface PCs in the coming year, with the first units reaching Microsoft Stores on 26 October. The brand itself is a repurposing — the Surface name previously belonged to the $7,600 tabletop computer shown at CES 2011, not a consumer tablet.
Now TechRadar reports a dozen job adverts for 'the next generation' of Surface, meaning Microsoft is staffing successor hardware before version one has sold a single unit. The pickup across PC Magazine, CNET, Computerworld, The Next Web and Business Insider shows how closely the trade press is watching whether Microsoft can sustain a hardware line, not just launch one.
First-order effects
- Microsoft's first-party tablet gains a committed roadmap before launch day: engineering for the successor is being hired now, which shapes what the 26 October product needs to be — a beachhead rather than a finished line.
- Early adopters weighing the October purchase face a visible gen-two pipeline, and Microsoft's own 'few million' sales target depends on those buyers not waiting.
Second-order effects
- The job adverts signal to Windows PC makers that Microsoft intends to iterate its own hardware continuously, putting OEMs in the position of competing against a partner whose next revision is already in development.
- If buyers hold off for generation two, pressure falls on Microsoft Stores — the exclusive launch channel — to move first-run inventory, testing whether retail presence alone sustains demand.
Third-order effects
- A pre-launch successor pipeline points toward an annual-style refresh cadence for Microsoft-designed devices, structurally shifting the company from pure software licensor toward an integrated hardware-and-software vendor whose roadmap competes with its own ecosystem.
- It also completes the Surface name's migration from niche expensive hardware to a mainstream consumer franchise — a repositioning that makes each future iteration a statement about Microsoft's long-term hardware ambitions.
The trend: Microsoft is moving from licensing Windows to partners toward designing and rapidly iterating its own devices, with the Surface line as the test case.