Industry Response
Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), whose products have traditionally run Microsoft operating systems, have had positive responses to the release of the Surface. HP, Lenovo, Samsung and Dell applauded Microsoft's decision to create its own Tablet PC and said that relationships with Microsoft have not changed. John Solomon, senior vice president of HP, said that "Microsoft was basically making a leadership statement and showing what's possible in the tablet space". Acer founder Stan Shih said that he believed Microsoft only introduced its own hardware in order to establish the market and would then withdraw in favor of its OEMs.
However, others believe that OEMs were left sidelined by the perception that Microsoft's new tablet will replace their products. Acer chairman JT Wang advised Microsoft to "please think twice". Microsoft has acknowledged that Surface may "affect their commitment" of partners to the Windows platform.
Steve Ballmer said that the Surface, like the Xbox, is an example of the sort of hardware products Microsoft will release in the future.
Read more about this topic: Microsoft Surface
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