Microsoft's Surface 2 launch: What to expect
Summary: Microsoft is readying its next-generation Surface tablets and peripherals for launch on September 23. Here's what we know (and think we know) on specs, pricing and availability. — On Monday, September 23, Microsoft will be launching …
Context & Ripple Effects
Monday's September 23 event closes the loop on a rumor arc that has been public for over a year: back in August 2012, TechRadar reported Microsoft was already working on Surface 2 tablets, so this week's specs-and-pricing reveal is confirmation rather than surprise. The story has travelled unusually widely for a pre-launch preview, picked up by The Verge, Yahoo! News, Softpedia, WinBeta and Mary Jo Foley within a day.
Timing does the heavy lifting: the event lands days after Microsoft completed its full acquisition of Nokia (September 19) and rolled out device trade-in credits of up to $350 for iPhones and iPads, extended days later to Android and BlackBerry handsets. With Windows Phone 8 approaching its first shipping anniversary and Microsoft telling Windows Phone 7 users to move on, Surface 2 is the tablet pillar of an increasingly self-owned device stack heading into the holiday quarter.
First-order effects
- Buyers finally get official specs, pricing and availability for the next-generation Surface tablets and peripherals on September 23, ending a leak-driven news cycle that has run since mid-2012.
- Microsoft enters the holiday season selling first-party tablets directly against the iPad at the same moment it is subsidizing switchers with up-to-$350 iPhone/iPad trade-in credit.
Second-order effects
- The expanded trade-in program — now covering Android and BlackBerry devices as well — lowers the cash cost of moving households onto Microsoft hardware, effectively discounting Surface adoption through the buyback channel rather than list price.
- Windows OEM partners who license the OS now watch Microsoft deepen its own hardware commitment via the completed Nokia acquisition, sharpening the conflict between Microsoft-as-platform and Microsoft-as-device-maker.
Third-order effects
- If Surface refreshes become an annual fixture, Microsoft completes its shift from licensing platform to vertically integrated devices-and-seller, with its own hardware events rivaling Apple's as product-calendar anchors.
- Trade-in subsidies of this size normalize carrier-style device financing in PCs and tablets, pushing margin pressure onto whoever sells hardware unsubsidized.
The trend: Microsoft's September 23 Surface 2 launch is one data point in its transformation from software licensor into a vertically integrated device maker, using acquisitions and trade-in subsidies to build a self-owned hardware ecosystem.