In the summer of last year, Microsoft – keen to close the innovation gap that emerged since its Windows 7 operating system launched and rivals such as Apple with its iPad and Google with its Android operating system – launched its Surface concept to show OEMs how best Windows 8 could be harnessed for what Google and Apple like to term the 'post-PC age.'

You can tell from Microsoft’s fighting stance that this is anything but the post-PC age as far as it's concerned, but nevertheless the tablet form factor – which Microsoft incidentally unleashed in 2002 but failed to refine – is a segment that is growing fast and one that no tech company worth its salt can choose to ignore.