>>There are some fundamental differences between the two products.
>>
>>Phones are really built by third parties and branded by them. HTC, Samsung, etc. Then co-branded for the carrier. Microsoft only makes the OS. How many times have you seen a Google ad for an Android phone from HTC or Samsung?
>
>A zillion. Heck just go to the google website.
>http://www.google.com/nexus/
>
>or the google store
>https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=galaxy_nexus_hspa
>
>>With Surface, both the hardware and OS are Microsoft branded. You won't see a Surface tablet from Dell or HP. (That's not to say they won't copy the design, but the name "Surface" is a Microsoft hardware product) So, Microsoft will have to do some marketing. This is the Apple strategy.
>
>Agreed. And this formula has resulted in Apple having a rather small portion of the market until recently.
>
>>I've heard some reports (MaryJoFoley, for example) that Barnes & Noble will not only sell books, but will also feature a Microsoft store inside. That could bolster sales of both Windows tablets and phones.
>
>Really? off to a brilliant start I see!...after all you know how stable, solid and growing all those brick & mortar book stores all. Great idea - lets open up some shops inside some stores that are dropping like flies.
>
>>>Hopefully their marketing strategy will be better for this new toy (which looks really cool) than for the phones.
>
>I keep looking for some more detailed specs on this thing but I guess none released yet. This thing better have a webcam to two built into it or I'll be really pissed..ha

According to reports it has front and rear webcams. Looks like 64Gig for starters.

Supposed to be an ARM platform in the first release, then Intel.