Microsoft’s “small
gathering” event this week all pointed to the direction of the Surface Mini
but contrary to people’s expectations the Mini tablet was a no show.
Apparently, or at least according to a report by Bloomberg, Microsoft actually
planned to unveil the Surface Mini during their event two days ago but company
execs decided to pull the plug at the last minute.
According to the report, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella and
EVP Stephen Elop decided to hold back the announcement of the Surface Mini
saying that the device didn’t have any special features that differentiated it
from other small-sized tablets in the market.
Earlier rumours indicate that the Mini will be powered by a
Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset that lead people to believe that the device won’t
run on a full version of Windows and instead will have Windows RT.
Having said this, it might have been the right move for
Microsoft to withhold the announcement of the Surface Mini. A number of the
company’s hardware partners for Windows 8.1 including Acer,
Toshiba
and Dell
to name a few have small-sized tablets with 7- or 8-inch displays that run on
the full version of Windows 8.1, so placing a Windows RT-running Surface Mini
besides these devices will certainly make it a less attractive option for
consumers.
