Microsoft Revamps Surface Tablets to Challenge Apple

By: Sinead Carew and Bill Rigby | Reuters

Reuters) - Microsoft Corp unveiled faster, more powerful versions of its Surface tablet computer on Monday in an effort to boost poor sales of its flagship hardware product and mount a stronger challenge to Apple Inc's iPad.

The Surface is key to Microsoft's plan to reinvent itself as a devices and services company, but the revamp comes less than a year after it brought out its own computers for the first time and failed to put a dent in the market. It has racked up only $853 million in sales while generating a $900 million charge for unsold inventory.