Losing to lead
The Surface 2 is clearly pitched as an iPad rival, but the real action in tablets is currently happening on a smaller scale: the march of the minis continued this week with new arrivals from Amazon and Tesco.
Amazon has given its Kindle Fire a revamp and added the new Kindle Fire HDX with new features including near-instant online video help. The screens are Amazon's best yet and the prices are so low Amazon can't possibly be making any money from them - but Amazon doesn't care, because it intends to make its profit from selling content.
That's a strategy Tesco appears to be adopting, says Marshall. The newHudl tablet is hardly a cutting-edge device, but what's important is the strategy, which he can't help but call "every Hudl helps": "every Hudl is a Trojan Horse bearing Blinkbox and Clubcard TV and Tesco Bank and of course, shopping. It's a classic loss leader, Tesco taking a hit on the tablets and making it back from selling you other things."
Could Microsoft have something similar in development? We've heard rumours of a small Surface for months now, but it's still some months away. While a Surface mini appears to be in development, there's no sign of a release date yet.
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