Microsoft: Our tablet competitors are playing catch up

Microsoft has just pushed its Surface 2 out the door, and it reckons this is the tablet that today's consumers truly need in their lives.

Last week Apple revealed the iPad Air and announced that the tablet would come with iWorks and Microsoft was explicit in its response: it's not intimidated in the slightest.

When we asked Microsoft what it thought about the iPad Air as a tablet, the response was a bit more measured, but definitely clear.

"I think a lot of tablet manufacturers are starting to catch on that people want to do more with their tablets," Microsoft Surface UK lead Ally Wickham told TechRadar.

"More and more tablet manufacturers realise that people want to get things done and put more productivity software on them… we recognised that from the beginning," she added.

Going through the cycles

Microsoft Windows UK consumer lead Rob Epstein added that Surface 2 strikes a balance of both entertainment and productivity, which is something that most others aren't quite nailing.

"As people start going through replacement cycles, what we're starting to realise is that more and more people are going 'Why do I have to buy another laptop and a tablet' and certainly the high end tablets that we would compare ourselves to are not cheap," he said.

• Thinking about bagging a Surface 2? Read our hands on review