Microsoft introduces three phones, new surface tablet
Microsoft Corp. introduced its first laptop, three Lumia phones and a Surface Pro 4 tablet, the first indication of the company's revamped hardware strategy three months after saying it would scale back plans to make its own smartphones.
The Surface Book has a detachable keyboard that also helps to boost the graphics capabilities of the device, and has a battery that can last up to 12 hours, Microsoft said in a statement Tuesday. Prices for the laptop start at $1,500 and it will go on sale later this month.
The Lumia 950 and 950 XL smartphones have two antennas to improve signal detection and allows users to glance at the locked screen for information without using battery, Panos Panay, who runs engineering for Microsoft, said at an event Tuesday in New York. The Surface Pro 4, 30 percent faster than the previous version of the tablet, is 8.4 millimeters thick and comes with 1 terabyte of storage. The attached stylus comes in five different colors and interchangeable tips to mimic a variety of writing tools, from ballpoint to felt-tip pens.
"We have competitors, you may have noticed, who are chasing it," Panay said of the tablet. "It's pretty cool."
The Lumia 950, priced at $549 and the XL, at $649, will be available in November. The company also introduced a lower-end Lumia 550 for $139. The Surface Pro 4 will be available on October 26th. It can be preordered on Wednesday, starting at $899.
The handsets are the first released since Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella in July said Microsoft would write down almost the entire value of the acquired Nokia handset unit and fire about 7,800 people. Under the new plan, Microsoft will release fewer than 10 phones a year targeted in three categories: business phones, high-end models and value devices. Some analysts have said they are unclear whether the plan represents a retrenchment or the first stage in Microsoft's complete withdrawal from the smartphone market over time.
"We are looking for clarity and understanding about the role of hardware and Microsoft," Will Stofega, an analyst at IDC, said before the introduction of the new products. "Because if there's any doubt, why would customers commit?"
Microsoft describes the new hardware plan as focusing not on selling as many phones as possible, but on a narrower set of scenarios in which it thinks it can win over customers. It's a similar play to what Nadella has executed with the Surface devices, which now have reduced ambitions for market share, but greater success in generating profit. The Surface currently generates more than $3.5 billion in revenue for the company a year, Terry Myerson, Microsoft's vice president of Windows and devices, said at the event.
Windows-based tablets, including Surfaces, have gained share in the last year, rising to 8.7 percent in the second quarter, compared with 4.2 percent a year earlier, according to IDC. Microsoft hasn't seen the same boost in phones, where Windows share rose to 2.6 percent from 2.5 percent.
Microsoft also showed off its "mixed reality" games project in a HoloLens demonstration that uses holographic weapons. The company said it would deliver a development kit for the device to Windows 10 developers in the first quarter, priced at $3,000.