Microsoft Unveils 'Surface' Tablets

Microsoft unveils tablet it hopes will take on iPad


--Tablet runs on version of Windows 8 operating system
--Surface to be priced similarly to other tablets, company says
LOS ANGELES -- Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) unveiled on Monday a family of tablets that run the upcoming version of its Windows operating system, a move that comes as the software company races to catch up with Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. (GOOG) in mobile computing.
At an event in Los Angeles, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer introduced the company's Surface family of tablets. The devices, which feature magnesium bodies and built-in stands, run versions of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system.
Mr. Ballmer said the Redmond, Wash., company recognized the importance of integrating software and hardware, a strategy that is the hallmark of rival Apple.
"With Windows 8, we didn't want to leave any seam uncovered," Mr. Ballmer said. "We wanted to give Windows 8 its own hardware companion.
"The surface is a PC. And the Surface is a tablet. The Surface is something new." Mr. Ballmer later said.
The Surface family comes with a magnetically attachable cover that has a built-in accelerometer. The inside of the cover is a full keyboard that recognizes the device when it is attached. The Surface's stand, called the Kickstand, snaps into place with an audible click. It has connection for charging and linking the tablet to peripherals and it will come with a Netflix (NFLX) application.
The Surface "works great for entertainment," said Steven Sinofsky, head of Microsoft's Windows division.
Microsoft has built a software business with $70 billion in annual revenue and left the computer hardware to allies such as Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Dell Inc. (DELL) and others. Now Microsoft will be going after tablet customers too.
A Dell spokesman said the company "remains a committed partner of Microsoft" and is continuing to develop a "full slate" of Windows 8 products.
H-P didn't immediately respond for comment.
"Don't focus too much on Microsoft competing with other PC vendors," said retail analyst Ross Rubin of NPD Group in a Tweet. "They all have the same main competitor in Apple."
The Surface is a compact 9.3 millimeters thin and weighs 1.5 pounds, very similar to Apple's iPad at 9.4 millimeters and 1.44 pounds for the model with WiFi. Besides the kickstand and detachable keyboard cover, the cover also has a trackpad.
Apple didn't immediately respond for comment on the Microsoft device.
Microsoft said the Surface would be priced comparably to other tablet computers and available simultaneously with release of Windows 8. It will appear first in the Microsoft Store online and through company retail locations.
Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi said Surface will go on sale to capture the maximum benefit of the holiday gift season. Doing a prominent press event so far in advance is aimed at rallying applications developers behind the new platform.
"They now have a six month window to get developers they have on the PC side to join them on Windows 8 and this tablet," she said.
The Surface and other tablet versions of Windows will run on low-power chips designed by ARM Holdings PLC (ARMH). Windows 8 Pro versions of the Surface are aimed at enterprise computing customers and will run on chips made by Intel Corp. (INTC).
Microsoft made the announcement at the center of the music, film and television world, which Microsoft has already embraced to deliver content to its popular Xbox 360 game console. The Microsoft tablet will run the tablet version of Windows 8, called Windows RT. Windows 8 is the next edition of the company's flagship computer-operating system, which will for the first time run on both desktop computers and tablet devices.
Windows 8 is Microsoft's best hope for competing with devices running Google's (GOOG) Android operating system and with Apple's iPad and iPhone products. Microsoft has almost no presence in the tablet market, which is expected to double in size, with sales of 118.9 million units this year, according to research firm Gartner Inc. Apple's iPad is expected to account for a little less than two-thirds of those sales and Android machines for nearly a third.
Microsoft has spent the past two years developing Windows 8. The company is putting the finishing touches on the software before shipping it to manufacturers, which will load it on devices slated to hit stores in October or November, in time for the holiday-sales season.
Many companies have tried to compete with Apple's iPad with tablets based on the Google Android operating system, but few products have sold well. In smartphones, Android phones collectively have a majority of the market, but Apple's iPhone remains a dominant hit.
Microsoft has long manufactured keyboards, mice and other accessories, but hasn't always succeeded with consumer devices. Xbox has become the best selling gaming station, but its Zune music player, designed to compete with Apple's iPod, never caught on with music buffs. Its KIN mobile phone died a quick death shortly after it appeared in 2010. Handset maker Nokia Corp. (NOK) is now is leading phone partner.
-Ian Sherr contributed to this story. 

Daily Forex Brief London: Monday 21st May 2012

Here we go again

It's Monday and the shifting sands of the European mindset are moving (not for the first time) towards the issuance of common bonds as a means of overcoming the sovereign crisis. This is one of the changes in momentum that has emerged from the weekend's meeting of G8 leaders, together with giving the EFSF the ability to re-capitalise banks. It's a sign that there is stronger desire to see an alternative to the hard-line German stance of austerity, with few after-thoughts. Furthermore, the German Chancellor will find it increasingly difficult to resist this shift, especially when it is being endorsed at the international level. The wider issue is that at no point have European leaders really seized the initiative on the crisis, compromising by doing just as much as they believe necessary to stop things getting worse, rather than going all in to turn things around. Imagine where we would be if Greece had restructured its debt back in May 2010, a decent firewall was set-up and a shift towards common bonds was put into train. Most likely, we'd be in a better place than we are now. The single currency recovered on Friday, despite the weaker tone to stocks. This is partly a function of the extent of the short-positioning that has built up in the single currency, which could mean that a push below the year's low at 1.2724 could prove a little tougher than some expect.

Daily Forex Brief London: Tuesday 15th May 2012

Another bad hair day

Yet another bad hair day for risk assets yesterday amidst continuing concerns over a myriad of issues, including the unstable political situation in Greece and ongoing question marks around whether it will remain in the eurozone, the dire state of Spanish banking and sovereign finances, and a sense that the losses registered by the CIO unit at JPMorgan could turn out to be much greater than already disclosed. Also contributing to the uncertain mood was Moody's announcement that it was downgrading 26 Italian banks and worries over whether Greece will pay the holders of a EUR 436m floating rate note which matures today. Gold, a traditional safe-haven in times of distress, has lost its lustre, falling to its lowest level for the year at USD 1.550 an ounce (more on gold below). Instead, it is the greenback that is the preferred destination of those fleeing risk, with the dollar index already up by 2% so far this month. For the dollar bulls, should we see a sustained break of the mid-January high of 81.50 (in the dollar index) then this would provide further encouragement. Indeed, it could justifiably be argued that, against the backdrop of dreadful financial and economic conditions in large parts of Europe, and with China in the midst of a very bumpy landing, the dollar really ought to be performing better than it has done. Another currency that continues to attract buying interest is the pound, with cable steadfast at around the 1.61 level and EUR/GBP now comfortably under 0.80. The single currency fell to 1.2815 overnight, but it has been a remarkably measured sell-off rather than blind panic. Even for the Aussie, which has been under sustained fire all month, the decline through parity was not one of capitulation, notwithstanding the evident determination over recent weeks of traders to eliminate their long positions.

Daily Forex Brief London: Monday 14th May 2012

A sea of red

Unfortunately, in financial markets at least, it is rarely the merry month of May. Last week was another sea of red, with equity markets on the slide, high-beta currencies heading south and core G4 bond yields declining. Spanish equities were singled out for the harshest treatment, falling another 3%, with the financials again hard hit. The Aussie is back at parity, the euro is under 1.29, and cable is near 1.6050. German 10yr bund yields fell below 1.5%, at the same time as the 10yr yield in Spain rose above 6.0%. Apart from the deteriorating political situation in Greece and the equally disturbing Spanish banking predicament, markets were rattled by the massive loss recorded by one of the units of J.P.Morgan. Overnight, the mood stabilised slightly after China decided to reduce the bank reserve requirement (RRR) by 50bp (see below). Worryingly, many of those forces which were so unsettling last week are still in play, including growing speculation that Greece may well leave the euro before too long

Daily Forex Brief London: Thursday 10th May 2012

Reality bites

The euro's break below the 1.30 level has been sustained overnight and it's notable that the dollar has risen in all but two of the past nine sessions, looking at the dollar index chart. The political events in Europe, both in France and Greece, have served to enhance the more risk-averse trend that was already in place last week. Furthermore, in Europe we are seeing fresh signs of stress in the banking sector, such as widenings in cross-currency basis swaps and also Libor-OIS spreads. These both reflect greater concerns with regards to the fragility of the European banking sector, but at present there are few signs that the ECB is keen to get stuck in, already having undertaken two 3Y injections of liquidity. We've also seen disappointing trade data from China overnight (a bigger balance but also a slowdown in both exports and imports). Meanwhile, Asian equities are declining for a sixth consecutive session, the MSCI Asia (ex-Japan) index is now around 7% up on the year, having stood 16% higher at the end of February. Reality is biting hard and not only in Europe

Daily Forex Brief London: Thursday 3rd May 2012

A dark and dismal Europe

A swathe of dismal economic news cast a long shadow across Europe yesterday, beating the single currency lower by nearly 1%. The manufacturing PMIs in the periphery for April were uniformly dreadful, Spain down to 43.6 and Italy to 43.8 (from 47.9 in March). For the latter, the new order balance saw the biggest monthly decline for three years, from 45.7 to 39.2, suggesting that there's not much on the horizon to turn around the fortunes of the manufacturing sector anytime soon. There was also a modest downward revision to the provisional PMI readings for both France and Germany, by 0.4 and 0.1 respectively, to 46.9 and 46.2. As if that wasn't bad enough, the unemployment rate in Italy jumped to a 12yr high of 9.8% in March (9.4% was expected), Germany recorded the largest monthly increase in unemployment (19k) for nearly two years, and the unemployment rate for the euro-area rose to a 15yr high. Today's ECB meeting is therefore extremely timely. At the very least, with recession deepening in a number of Eurozone economies, Mario Draghi and his men must be considering how they can ease financial conditions further. With the US recovery looking more assured these days, it is no wonder that the single currency took yesterday's smorgasbord of shocking news rather badly. It was also worth noting the response of peripheral bond markets to this darker economic landscape – bond yields rose markedly in both Italy and Spain, while the spread to Bunds at the long end widened by around 15bp. Both the dollar and the yen gained from this renewed burst of risk avoidance, while the Aussie dipped back to 1.03.

Daily Forex Brief London: Monday 30th April 2012

The dollar's gentle descent

It has been exceedingly gradual, but the dollar has been drifting downwards over the past two weeks. Not that we are talking about a big move mind you – the dollar index is down by roughly 1.5% over that time. That said, some of the major dollar crosses are at levels not witnessed for some time – cable for instance reached a 7mth high at just under 1.63 overnight. Indeed, the pound has been something of a revelation so far this year, despite the fact that the economy is apparently back in recession. Clearly sterling is attracting flows from a number of different sources. Just imagine how well the currency might be doing if the economy was actually registering the kind of growth that America is experiencing. The Japanese yen is also faring quite well, after a torrid period in February and the first half of March. Even the beleaguered Aussie has perked up, despite mounting speculation that the RBA will cut rates by 50bp by mid-year. All things considered, it has been an indifferent first four months of the year for the dollar, which is slightly surprising as the economy looks better than most, corporate earnings are healthy and the Fed has backed away from implementing further QE after Operation Twist finishes next month. Part of the explanation is that there has been a slight improvement in risk appetite recently. For now, some of the high-beta currencies such as the Kiwi and the ZAR are attracting interest, while sterling retains a very healthy bid.

Daily Forex Brief London: Friday 27th April 2012

Japan goes further

It seems like some time ago now that Japan threw everything, including the kitchen sink, at the deflation problem. Now they are ripping out the plumbing and anything else they can find to try and escape the deflationary slump which the economy has been suffering from for the best part of the past fourteen years. The latest meeting has seen the Bank of Japan expand its asset purchase-program by a further JPY 10trln (to JPY 40trln). It also chose to extend the maturity of both government and corporate bonds to be purchased under their QE program. It now has an inflation target of 1%, which it remains confident of reaching "in the medium to long term", but that is a long time in central banking terms and markets hold little faith in such a forecast, largely through the bitter experience of recent years (and not only in Japan).

Daily Forex Brief London: Thursday 19th April 2012

A lovely shiny pound

Of the major currencies it has been the proud pound that has been leading the way so far this year. Following yesterday's less dovish MPC Minutes and the surprisingly strong employment figures, cable is back through 1.60 once more and EUR/GBP is at a 20mth low of 0.8180. Against the Japanese yen the pound has advanced by almost 10% so far this year. Numerous explanations account for this more buoyant performance: the pound is very competitive, many sovereign wealth funds and high net worth individuals are still spooked by the euro (see below) and regard UK assets (such as London property and gilts) as safe-havens, and the economy appears to have avoided falling back into recession. In addition, other major currencies such as the Japanese yen, the Australian dollar and the Swiss franc are regarded as being very expensive, so it is little wonder that sterling is on the radar of money managers. Looking ahead, these sources of demand are likely to remain evident for some time to come. The message for a while now has been 'do not underestimate the pound'.

Also in today's Daily Forex Brief:

• UK QE loses its biggest sponsor
• Spain goes back to its roots
• Reserve managers snub their nose at the euro
• Yen softens amidst talk of more BoJ easing

Daily Forex Brief London: Friday 13th April 2012

China's juggling act

The big question this morning for markets is whether to meet the latest Chinese GDP data with concern that it was lower than expected, or relief that the economy is slowing in an orderly fashion and will be supported by the largest increase in yuan-lending for a year. The initial reaction, as suggested by the Aussie's movement, is that concerns are more about the slower than expected pace of growth, AUD down around 0.5% in the wake of the release. The yen is also the only leader vs. the dollar after the numbers. Also seen were modestly firmer industrial production numbers for March (11.9% YoY) and retail sales figures, which were in line with expectations at 14.8%. China is juggling a lot of balls right now, trying to slow the economy a little, rebalance it towards consumption, ensure that property prices soften rather than crash and control lending so it does not fuel potential new bubbles. For now, it looks like policy-makers are achieving their goals but it's a precarious balance.

Also in today's Daily Forex Brief:

• Monti's continuing battle
• Housing still a big US headwind
• The impending franc attack

Data Entry in Excel from PDF files

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I have US based Hosting Company, and one of my client is having woman hospital.

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