TechBiz

By Therese Poletti

The young tablet market is already littered with floundering or failed devices.

With the tablets such as Motorola's Xoom, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)  TouchPad, to Research In Motion (RIMM) PlayBook, Microsoft (MSFT) has plenty of failures to learn from, including its own previous ill-fated attempts, when it rolls out the Surface later this year.  (Microsoft owns and publishes TechBiz, an MSN Money site.)

While some of the aforementioned tablets aren't necessarily finished yet, the market is still led by Apple (AAPL) and the iPad. The only device to really knock out some of its dominant market share so far has been Amazon.com's (AMZN) cheaper Kindle Fire, which has since lost some momentum that it had last December.

Microsoft (MSFT) made a big splash this week when it unveiled Surface, a new line of Windows 8-powered tablets ostensibly meant to take down the mighty iPad. But Surface has more than Apple's (APPL) Retina display touchscreens in its cross hairs, says Jesus Diaz at Gizmodo. With a detachable magnetic cover that doubles as a keyboard, Microsoft's soon-to-be-released device transforms itself into an ultra-portable productivity center that could supplant laptops.  (Microsoft owns and publishes TechBiz, an MSN Money site.)

Does Surface threaten the lightweight MacBook Air as well as the iPad?

By Richard Saintvilus

Something happened last week that appears to have flown completely under the radar. Search giant Yahoo (YHOO) and CNBC, which is owned by Comcast (CMCSA), the largest cable provider in the U.S., formed a content-sharing alliance to distribute business news and original content as a way to not only shore up their respective digital online presence, but also extend their individual web audience.

Yahoo, which continues to battle credibility issues, has been under a considerable amount of scrutiny of late. The company has absorbed more punishment from Wall Street than any company deserves due to the scandal that surrounded Scott Thompson, its recently ousted CEO. It understands now that what it needs more than anything is a fresh start. While the partnership with CNBC does not wipe the slate clean as would be the case if acquired by a name such as Microsoft (MSFT), it does remind investors that the company is still a dominant media power and likely will be for many years to come. (Microsoft owns and publishes TechBiz, an MSN Money site.)

By Robert Weinstein

Monday's announcement by Microsoft (MSFT) must have left Dell (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) scratching their heads wondering "now what?" From Dell's and HP's point of view the best part of the presentation is Microsoft knows more about what colors are available for the new Surface than pricing or the timing of release. (Microsoft owns and publishes TechBiz, an MSN Money site.)

It appears Microsoft has a potential winner in this product, but who can honestly know when the company hasn't disclosed pricing or availability? If the Surface announcement is meant to be more than a heads-up for the competition, Microsoft better price it right, and start moving product well before the holiday season around the corner.

By Chris Ciaccia

Microsoft (MSFT) unveiled its Surface line of tablets late Monday, putting the company in competition with Apple's (AAPL) iPad, Google's (GOOG) Android operating system. (Microsoft owns and publishes TechBiz, an MSN Money site.)

While Microsoft itself obviously has a lot riding on the launch, two companies that are positioned to share in whatever success results are Cypress Semiconductor (CY) and ARM Holdings (ARMH).