Microsoft Surface to ship as a wifi-only device

Will the decision to keep costs down sink this ship before it even leaves port?

There's a lot to be excited about when it comes to the?new Microsoft Surface supertablet, the device Gates and company hope will?take down the industry-leading iPad. But already, a major weakness may have appeared in the gadget: The first-generation?Windows 8Microsoft Surface will be wifi-only, and will not have access to a?4G LTE network,?sources familiar with the device say.

The decision is a head scratcher. Sure, skipping 4G connectivity keeps the cost of the device down (likely the reason for the omission), and wifi-only devices are the?best selling tablets out there by far. And the Surface does have a?USB port, so you can conceivably carry around a?MiFi device for connecting on the go. But that solution is less than elegant.

Still, not having built-in?4G as an option keeps the Surface from being a truly anywhere device with unmatched portability. And since that's a major selling point of any tablet ? portability ? not having an integrated 4G option could seriously keep the Surface from becoming the next big thing.

(Source)

This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Tecca

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