It’s once again being suggested that the once-shelved Microsoft Surface Mini is on the cards for a 2014 launch, though could be the first of its kind to be rebranded as a Lumia slate. There are some gadget rumors that just won’t give up and play dead, no matter how many times they’re panned by […]
It’s once again being suggested that the once-shelved Microsoft Surface Mini is on the cards for a 2014 launch, though could be the first of its kind to be rebranded as a Lumia slate.
There are some gadget rumors that just won’t give up and play dead, no matter how many times they’re panned by realists. A case in point example would be the Microsoft Surface Mini tablet, which despite apparently having been killed off, boxed and buried shortly before its intended launch earlier this year will apparently be coming back from the dead to surprise us all.
What became clear back in May was that for one reason or another, Redmond decided it wasn’t the right time to out the Surface Mini. Well, either that or they didn’t think the Surface Mini they’d come up with at the time would cut the mustard – whatever the reason, it didn’t show up to its own launch part. And the fact that they’d labeled the meeting itself a “Small Gathering” made it pretty darn clear what was at least supposed to take center stage.
Why was it binned at the eleventh hour? Well, some insist it all came down to a case of simple competition and congestion. Microsoft’s insistence on taking so long to get the Mini ready for its rollout resulted in thousands of rival Windows slates with smaller screens and tiny price tags emerging, thus nudging the Mini out of the market before it even got off the ground.
Others however suggested the device would be held back until the touch-optimized Windows tab version of MS Office was prepped and ready to go, which even now is still anyone’s guess. Mary Jo Foley warned not to expect the software until next year, by which time the Surface Mini will of course take the term ‘old news’ to a whole new level.
Or perhaps not, as word is making its way through the grapevine that Redmond is planning to get its mini-tab on the market long before the end of the summer. What’s more, in order to cope with the strength of the competition already doing the rounds, reports suggest it’s been beefed-up in a big way and the original price-tag slashed quite generously.
Meanwhile, it is also being reported that there will in fact be no more devices put out by Microsoft carrying the Surface branding – they’ll instead be porting the Lumia moniker onto what comes next.
Of course, with no official word from the horse’s mouth it’s a good idea to keep a grain or two of salt on standby…at least for the time being.
