Last updated on November 18, 2012
The Verge reports that Microsoft is working on developing a high-powered 7-inch gaming tablet dubbed Xbox Surface. It would represent a modern-day Xbox contrast — launching a primary gaming platform on Microsoft hardware but supporting multiple mobile OS tablets and smartphones as second screens via SmartGlass.
This appears like a radical change of strategic direction and in some ways it is. Microsoft had previously kept its homegrown hardware to home console games, eschewing competition with Sony and Nintendo in the portable space. But the vertically integrated Xbox Surface would be a new platform whereas Microsoft positions SmartGlass as a “companion” that it opens to all tablets to enhance the gaming and entertainment experience. It’s a smart way to hedge with attacking the market that’s real today (console games) while experimenting in the one that’s developing (multiscreen).