The Surface doesn't have to make money. It would be nice, but I doubt Microsoft really needs it to sell well. I think they really want to pioneer a mobile form

The Surface doesn't have to make money. It would be nice, but I doubt Microsoft really needs it to sell well. I think they really want to pioneer a mobile form factor which works with Windows. They need to have people inside the tent telling their UI people what to do. No-one else is going to take the risk, because it's there's a big danger that other vendors will copy them once they've done the hard yards, and they don't want to risk Microsoft screwing up the interface for Windows 9. Eventually, MS will get there - they'll have a great x86 tablet, which can run Windows and Office. Then the OEMs will copy it, and sell it at a lower price point, keeping Wintel (and the Windows App store) competitive with iOS and Android.